Scientists have succeeded in creating an embryo almost similar to a human embryo using only stem cells without sperm and eggs.
Research on human embryos has been very difficult and limited due to ethical issues, but this study seems to have opened a great way for human embryo research.
This is reporter Choi So-ra.
[Reporter]
A fertilized egg made by combining sperm and egg! After cell division, it becomes an embryo and is buried in the uterus.
An embryo in the womb develops into a fetus over time먹튀검증, but what happens when humans are embryos is shrouded in mystery.
This is because it is difficult to study human embryos, which is why most research uses animal embryos.
[Sung Jong-hyeok / Professor, College of Pharmacy, Yonsei University: There are ethical issues, and real-time filming and observation of the development of embryos in the womb (there are limitations).] However, American scientists have artificially created
cells very similar to human embryos . succeeded in making
Placenta and nutrients are mixed with human stem cells, and a specific environment is created by adjusting the temperature.
Then, the substances exchanged signals with each other and changed to resemble a human embryo.
By day 14, the artificial human embryo grew more like a real human embryo than any other cell ever created.
[Magdalena Jerinkagetz / Professor, University of Cambridge, UK: It’s a beautiful discovery, but artificial embryos do not differentiate perfectly from real embryos. We are researching improvements.]
The research team believes that the secret of human birth can be revealed by studying what is required to grow an artificial human embryo the same as a real human embryo.
Stem cells can also proliferate indefinitely, she said, making large-scale experiments possible by using them to create embryos.
On the other hand, while human embryo research is conducted under strict regulations, some point out that there are no regulations on embryos made from stem cells.
[James Briscoe / Dr. Francis-Crick Institute: It is urgent to prepare an appropriate ethical and legal framework for producing embryos with stem cells and using them for research.
] He dismissed the ethical issue, saying no.
In addition, he said that using artificial human embryos, it is possible to study the effects of drugs on the fetus, and to find and remove the cause of miscarriage in early pregnancy.