The result, obtained by Israeli scientists, opens up new perspectives for understanding how stem cells work and how they are used. But it also raises profound questions
Israeli scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science have managed to grow synthetic mouse embryos created from a cocktail of stem cells, thereby bypassing the need for sperm, egg and fertilization. The embryos formed outside the uterus they grew up to 8.5 days and developed a brain, a neurological link, an intestinal tract and beating hearts. The experiment conducted by Hanna Jacobs was published in a report in the scientific journal Cell . The stamina cells – explained in the study – were developed to express genes that induced the development of the placenta and its sac. The analysis of synthetic embryos and their genetic expression – underline the researchers – has shown a remarkable similarity with respect to naturally developed embryos.
Precedents
The experiment opens up new perspectives for understanding how stem cells give rise to various organs in the development of embryos and how any mutations can intervene in conditioning the embryonic development. In recent years, various research groups have studied the biological signals that direct stem cells towards different specializations and have learned, at least in part, how to intervene in these processes, up to obtaining blastoid organoids and even embryos, but the survival time of these the latter in particular was always very short outside a uterus capable of supporting their later development. Israeli researchers had already developed a system capable of acting as a incubator for this purpose and described it in an article in the journal Nature last year, stating that it was able to keep the embryo alive for up to 11 days. But no attempt had yet been made to use the device only with stem cells instead of a natural embryo.
Limits and questions
The study is considered important even if among its limitations it is emphasized that the development of embryos up to 8.5 days is much less than the 20 days necessary for complete management times for mice. Nonetheless, the result raises important questions about the possibility, now quite hypothetical, that one day animals or even humans could one day be produced from stem cell cultures. A theme presumably destined to challenge on various fronts and to make the scientific community and not only discuss it. The result obtained in Israel could instead offer new possibilities in the treatment of certain cancers in which a stem cell transplant is necessary, such as some types of leukemia, in which one could hypothesize one day, thanks to the ability to differentiate the patient’s own cells in order to overcome the need for a compatible bone marrow donor for a stem cell transplant. But it is still the future for now.
August 4, 2022 (change August 4, 2022 | 10:04 am)
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