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Credit: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/scientists-use-stem-cells-create-models-pre-embryos-n1285258

Scientists Move Closer to Ethical Human Embryo Research

December 3, 2021

  •  Scientists have developed a lab-grown analog of a human embryo using stem cells.·      
  • Using stem cells to create stand-ins for human embryos can mitigate several ethical concerns of researchers.
  • The stand-in, called a “blastoid,” is similar enough to an embryo to be used for research but distinct enough to be studied ethically.
Scientists researching fertility and conception often face ethical challenges in their work. Strict criteria and restrictions make embryos hard to obtain for research purposes, and scientists must follow specific ethical standards when researching human embryos. Researchers studying stem cells have proposed an alternative; use pluripotent stem cells to create a blastoid that can be studied in a laboratory. A blastoid is a lab-grown stand-in for a blastocyst, a pre-embryonic bundle of cells present about ten days after fertilization. Researchers can study blastoids in the same way they can study embryos, opening new doors to research into the very first days of human development following conception. Nicolas Rivron, a researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, pioneered the method for producing the blastoids. His team demonstrated that both lab-grown blastoids and embryos follow similar developmental paths, allowing blastoids to be used as embryo analogs in research. Rivron’s team utilized both embryonic stem cells and stem cells reprogrammed from adult cells in the body. Rivron allowed the blastoids to grow for 13 days before halting the experiment and analyzing the cells. The researchers found that, while the blastoids correctly replicated key phases of embryo development, there were significant differences between a 13-day-old blastoid and a similarly aged embryo. The scientists found that the blastoid had smaller and more disorganized cells and had not grown at the same rate as a normal human embryo. The physiological distinctions between blastoids and embryos may allow researchers to avoid violating ethical guidelines when researching the cellular underpinnings of conception and human development. As research progresses, it will be possible to develop blastoids that use no embryonic stem cells in their production. Once scientists can develop blastoids solely from reprogrammed somatic cells, it will be possible to study the very earliest moments of human development ethically, safely, and efficiently.  Credit: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/scientists-use-stem-cells-create-models-pre-embryos-n1285258 

References: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/scientists-use-stem-cells-create-models-pre-embryos-n1285258

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