Scientists learn more about how human embryos implant using artificial wombs

Scientists learn more about how human embryos implant using artificial wombs Microscopy image of a day 14 human embryo that has implanted in the new artificial womb. Matteo Molè at the Babraham Institute. hide caption toggle caption Scientists have gotten an unprecedented look at how the human embryo implants in a uterus. They did this by creating very primitive, womb-like environments in the lab. The goal is to help people have healthy babies by finding new clues to the causes of miscarriages and infertility. But the research raises tough ethical concerns. It was published Tuesday in three papers in the journals Cell and Cell Stem Cell. "This is really important work that's moving embryo research forward - an important advance in the search for scientific answers for what makes a pregnancy healthy," says Insoo Hyun , a bioethicist at The Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank, who was not involved in the research. "However, it also presents a technology that could be used for other purposes that are concerning." That includes the possibility of some day using this kind of technology to enable embryos to develop much further - perhaps even completely - in the lab. This process, called ectogenesis, has the potential to make a natural human womb unnecessary. "That is very troubling," says Ana Iltis , a bioethicist at Wake Forest University. But the scientists working on this research argue that possibility remains theoretical, and the work could yield important clues to early human development. "This is very exciting," says Jun Wu , a molecular biologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center involved in the research. One of the most important moments in a human embryo's journey to becoming a baby is when the microscopic ball of cells burrows into the womb. But that pivotal step of embryonic implantation has long been mysterious because it unfolds hidden inside the body. "Human implantation is essentially a black box - a mystery," Wu says. "Implantation happens very early on during pregnancy. Essentially we don't know when, we don't know where. It's happening in a womb we cannot have access to." Insights into the causes of miscarriage In the new research, Wu and colleagues in China obtained cells and tissue collected from the lining of wombs during routine medical procedures and figured out how to recreate a key part of the lining of the womb inside tiny plastic devices in their labs. "You can call it: A womb on a chip," Wu says. The scientists then placed human embryos donated for research after infertility treatments, as well as primitive embryo-like entities created from stem cells - called embryoids - inside their tiny wombs on chips and peered through a microscope to watch what happened next. "For the first time, we observed the entire sequence of human implantation," Wu says. "We are very excited about this." The researchers have already used their wombs on chips to discover clues about how embryos and wombs interact, which can "help us understand the...

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