Israeli researchers reported in the new issue of the US "Cell-Stem Cell" magazine that they successfully transformed skin cells into the three main stem cells required for early embryos in animal experiments, which can differentiate into embryos, placenta, umbilical cord and other tissue Stem cells.
The researchers said that this result is not only of great significance for studying embryo and placental defects and solving certain infertility problems, but also means that in the future it is possible to use human skin cells to develop complete human embryos without sperm and eggs. .
As early as 2006, Japanese researchers discovered that adult skin cells can be "reprogrammed" to return to a state similar to stem cells in natural embryos, and have the potential to re-differentiate into various organs and tissues. Such cells are called As "induced pluripotent stem cells." In recent years, researchers have used induced pluripotent stem cells to grow cardiomyocytes, liver cells and other cells, but they have not been able to use it to grow placenta and other tissues.
Researchers from the Hebrew University of Israel found that after a set of 5 genes were introduced into the skin cells of experimental mice, the skin cells could be transformed into three kinds of stem cells at the same time, which could further differentiate into extraembryonic tissues such as embryos, placenta, and umbilical cord.
According to reports, some researchers have tried to cultivate experimental mouse embryos without sperm and eggs, but they used these three kinds of stem cells isolated from the living and developing experimental mouse embryo related tissues and used them to re-culture Experimental mouse embryos. On the basis of this research, it is possible that without "sacrificing" live embryos, experimental mouse embryos can be grown in test tubes using skin cells.