Scientists have created synthetic mouse embryos from stem cells without a dad's sperm or a mom's egg and womb.
Zernicka-Goetz, an expert in stem cell biology, said one reason to study the early stages of development is to get more insight into why the majority of human pregnancies are lost at an early stage and embryos created for in vitro fertilization fail to implant and develop in up to 70% of cases. Studying natural development is difficult for many reasons, she said, including the fact that very few human embryos are donated for research and scientists face ethical constraints.
The roots of this work go back decades, and both Zernicka-Goetz and Hanna said their groups were working on this line of research for many years. Zernicka-Goetz said her group submitted its study to Nature in November.Scientists said next steps include trying to coax the synthetic mouse embryos to develop past 8 ½ days – with the eventual goal of getting them to term, which is 20 days for a mouse.
The scientists expect that after about 11 days of development the embryo will fail without a placenta, but they hope researchers can someday also find a way to create a synthetic placenta. At this point, they don't know if they will be able to get the synthetic embryos all the way to term without a mouse womb.
Such work is subject to ethical concerns. For decades, a “14-day rule” on growing human embryos in the lab has guided researchers. Last year, the International Society for Stem Cell Research recommended relaxing the rule under limited circumstances.
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