For the first time in history, a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge (USA) has managed to develop an artificial mouse embryo in the laboratory with stem cells. Although it is unlikely that it will end up in a healthy fetus, this scientific milestone will help to understand how life is formed and to explain why more than 2 out of 3 pregnancies end in abortion.
To achieve this, the researchers used a combination of embryonic and extra-embryonic stem cells in a 3D scaffold for them to proliferate.
The embryonic stem cells are grouped within the embryo and the others, on the one hand form the placenta and on the other, create the yolk sac so that the organs of the fetus develop correctly. The key to this complex process is that early embryo development requires different cell types to closely coordinate with each other , the authors comment.
However, for the current research, the experts used a combination of genetically modified embryonic stem cells and extra-embryonic trophoblastic stem cells attached to a 3D scaffold, known as an extracellular matrix. The resulting artificial mouse embryo looks a lot like a real one.
“Both embryonic and extra-embryonic cells begin to ‘talk’ to each other and organize themselves into a structure that looks and behaves like an embryo. We knew that interactions between different types of stem cells were important for development, but what is surprising is that now we have seen that it is a true association; these cells really guide each other. Without this association, the development and activity of the key biological mechanisms would not be carried out correctly “, explains Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, leader from work.
When comparing the artificial embryo with a natural embryo, they saw that the first followed the same developmental pattern as the second. In the researchers’ opinion, ” We believe that it will be possible to mimic many of the events that occur before 14 days of development using human embryonic and extra-embryonic cells with an approach similar to that we have used with mouse stem cells. This will allow us to study the key events of this critical stage without actually having to work with embryos and knowing more about why human development often fails at that stage, “says Zernicka-Goetz.
The study has been published in the journal Science.
