A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge has recently been able to successfully come up with a structure that resembles a mouse embryo in culture. With the use of two types of stem cells which is being regarded as the body's master cells and a 3D scaffold on which they can grow, scientists believe that this landmark study could potentially help scientists to better understand the precarious early stages of embryo development in humans. That said, researchers have also claimed that a better understanding about the very early stages of embryo development is of interest because this knowledge may help explain why more than two out of three human pregnancies fail at this time.
An Artificial 'Embryo'
According to reports revealed by News Atlas, the successful approach taken by the research team at the University of Cambridge has allegedly used both embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which eventually form a mammal's body and extra-embryonic trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) that go on to form the placenta. In conducting their study, the researchers have revealed that they have used a combination of ESCs, TSCs and a 3D scaffold called an extracellular matrix to grow a self-assembling structure whose development and architecture is very closely resembled the natural embryo. They continue to explain that previous attempts to grow embryo-like structures using only ESCs have had limited success because early embryo development requires the different types of cell to coordinate closely with each other.
Meanwhile, in one of her statements reported by Eureka Alert, study lead researcher Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience has further explained that in this stage of development, both embryonic and extra-embryonic cells are already starting to talk to each other and become organized into a structure that looks like and behaves like an embryo. Additionally, despite the team's finding that these cells truly guide each other and that the artificial embryo closely resembles the real thing, the researchers have highly emphasized that it is still unlikely to be developed into a healthy fetus. However, on a lighter note, it was found that Professor Zernicka-Goetz have also recently developed a technique that will reportedly enable researchers to analyze for the first time the key stages of human embryo development up to 13 days after fertilization
The Team's Proposition
Using the mouse's stem cells, the lead researcher claims that it will be possible to mimic a lot of the developmental events occurring before 14 days using human embryonic and extra-embryonic stem cells using a similar approach to the technique. As of the press time, the researchers are said to be hopeful of the fact that it will allow them to study the key events of this critical stage of human development without actually having to work on embryos. Ultimately, experts said that having the knowledge of how development normally occurs will allow us to understand why it so often goes wrong.
