The embryos used in the study were taken from the mouse’s uterus at five days old and were able to be sustained in the artificial womb for another six days. In an unpublished study, the researchers were able to sustain zero-day-old embryos for eleven days in the artificial womb. The mouse embryos only died after they grew too large for the ventilation system to properly diffuse oxygen through them.
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The findings of this study are paving the way for a better understanding of mammalian development, including human gestation. Throughout the study, the researchers injected dyes, viruses, toxins, and human cells into the developing embryos to observe what would occur. They hope that by furthering this research, we will be able to understand how problems could come about during development, and potentially treat them.
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The technology is still in the early stages, being too complex and expensive for others labs to viably do long term studies on it, and there is still significant ground to cover before the scientists can successfully sustain embryos for longer amounts of time, possibly up till birth, and eventually move on to using human embryos. The researchers are hopeful, though, that the technology will catch on and be seen as beneficial to medicine.
Currently, live human embryos developing in labs are only allowed to be grown for less than two weeks, under the guideline Fourteen-day Rule. Researchers are optimistic that the guidelines will be updated to allow for a longer period of time, and that their research will be able to continue and expand. They argue that the knowledge gained from growing human embryos up to week five or six, when organs and limbs start to form, is priceless, so those experiments should at least be considered.
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In order to make experiments with human embryos more acceptable, the embryos would be altered so that their development would be limited. One way to do this would be by keeping the heart from ever beating through mutations to a calcium channel.
By pursuing the chance to use human embryos, the science will undoubtedly enter the abortion debate. The researchers believe that lab-grown embryos would become the alternative to using tissue derived from abortions, and even potentially be used in medical treatments as well. In the future, the technology could even be used for organ harvesting, negating the need for donors. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to become any type of cell in the body, so by harvesting them from blastocysts, the cells can be used to generate more stem cells for research, or be coaxed into becoming specialized cells and then grown into a functioning organ.
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Recent Developments in Artificial womb technology
Written by Catherine Shanks
Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science recently were able to sustain mouse embryos, complete with a head, the beginning of limbs, and beating heart cells, in artificial wombs for eleven to twelve days, surpassing all previous attempts. The natural gestation period for a mouse lasts about twenty days, and all previous attempts were only able to sustain the embryos for a day or less.
The research team was able to accomplish this feat by adding a blood serum, derived from human umbilical cords, to the embryos, agitating them in glass jars, and ventilating the jars with a pressurized oxygen cocktail. The ventilation system allowed for the researchers to manipulate the concentration and pressure of the gas cocktail, better mimicking what fetuses usually experience in utero. The agitation, produced by constantly spinning the jars, prevented the embryos from sticking to the jars, which would have impeded development.
Currently, premature infants born before term but after twenty-three weeks have a much higher chance of survival compared to those born before twenty-three weeks. These extremely premature infants have a much harder time adjusting to life outside of the womb than those born at term. Problems include undeveloped lungs, neurodevelopmental challenges, extremely fragile skin, and a constant risk of infection. Artificial wombs, ideally, would solve these problems by providing a controlled environment that supports growth whileand minimizinges energy loss and exposure to bacterial and other diseases.
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Pushback is inevitable, though, when it comes to science that pushes the boundaries and definitions of life itself, and the ethical concerns are not unfounded. The point at which a clump of cells becomes a human is a widely contested and sensitive topic, with some arguing that it’s at the moment of conception, and others arguing that it’s when the heart starts to beat. Another concern is that artificial wombs can develop into human farming, which gives rise to the argument of human embryo rights. Do these cells have rights and are we taking them away by conducting experiments on them?
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Of course, one of the biggest arguments against artificial wombs is the fear of the creation of designer babies. Some concerns for designer babies are that only the wealthy would be able to afford the technology, thus widening the gap between social classes, it’s perceived as unnatural, and it’s ignoring the rights of the baby.
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The technology is just beginning to develop and is years away from being usable on human embryos. Artificial wombs have the potential to revolutionize developmental science and medicine, leading to the creation of cures, treatments, and second chances at life, but in order to achieve that, it must navigate a complex web of ethical and moral dilemmas. Regulations and definitions should be clearly defined early on in order to keep the technology in check, but with enough room to grow into something beneficial to humankind.