Biomedical Laboratory Science

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Thursday, May 5, 2016

Human Embryo Implantation Model in Lab Dish

Scientists based at The Rockefeller University have created an experimental system that models the implantation of a human embryo. The new system, an adaptation of one used to recapitulate the implantation of a mouse embryo, provides an attachment substrate, surrounds the blastocyst with just the right chemical environment, and provides scaffolding that accommodates the morphological movements that are particular to human embryos. For example, a human blastocyst undergoing implantation assumes a disk-like shape, whereas the mouse blastocyst is oblong.


The in vitro system has been used to show molecular and cellular processes in human development that occur up to day 14 after fertilization. The system, which has experimentally replicated implantation outside of the uterus for the first time, promises to expand scientists’ ability to answer basic questions about our own development, as well as to understand early pregnancy loss.

Details of the work appeared May 4 in the journal Nature, in an article entitled, “Self-Organization of theIn Vitro Attached Human Embryo.” The article paid particular attention to postimplantation development of the human embryo, a process that remains mysterious.



Source: genengnews

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