Scientists create a model human embryo with its very own heartbeat
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Scientists are creating a model of a human embryo with its own heartbeat that could reveal secrets about the first weeks of life
- It is made from human stem cells without eggs, sperm or fertilization
A model human embryo with a heartbeat and traces of blood has been created by scientists in a move that could offer insight into the first weeks of life.
The synthetic structure is made from human stem cells without the need for eggs, sperm or fertilization.
It replicates some of the cells and structures that usually appear in the third and fourth weeks of pregnancy, but is designed to never develop into a fetus.
Despite the heartbeat, the structure does not have the tissues that make up the placenta and yolk sac in a natural embryo.
“I want to stress that these are not embryos and we are not trying to make embryos,” said Dr Jitesh Neupane of the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge.
The synthetic structure is made from human stem cells without the need for eggs, sperm or fertilization (file photo)
“They are just models that can be used to investigate specific aspects of human development.”
Beating heart cells usually appear on day 23 in a natural embryo, while red blood cells begin to appear in the fourth week.
‘When I got the [heartbeat] for the first time I was scared, to be honest,” said Dr. Neupane. But he cautioned that it would be “dangerous” to compare the structures directly to natural embryos, adding: “At later times, they do not have all the characteristics of embryos.”
The breakthrough was made using embryonic stem cells – ’empty’ cells from a human embryo that can then become any cell in the body, The Guardian reported.
They were coaxed to grow into an embryo-like structure in the lab and transferred into a rotating flask designed to act as an artificial womb.
It is hoped that the findings – which have yet to be published – can provide more insight into the causes of recurrent miscarriages and the impact of genetic disorders.
Despite the heartbeat, the structure does not have the tissues that make up the placenta and yolk sac in a natural embryo (file photo)
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology and developmental genetics at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who was not involved in the work, said the synthetic embryos are ‘impossible to develop to be implanted to form a child’.
The work follows a separate breakthrough reported last week in which scientists created embryos that do not contain the beginnings of a brain or beating heart, but do contain cells that would later form the placenta and yolk sac.
Sarah Norcross, director of the Progress Educational Trust, a charity that helps people struggling with infertility, said: ‘We must remember that these models are not real human embryos.’