Bioreactor for premature babies
A breakthrough has been made in the development of an artificial uterus
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
Experiments with lambs have confirmed that an artificial uterus can be used to grow embryos that otherwise would not have survived. The authors of the study hope that the technology will soon be used for human infants.
Researchers around the world are actively working to create an artificial uterus that would help to carry babies born much earlier. Previous work has confirmed that using this technology it is possible to maintain life in embryos at a late stage of development.
However, the ultimate goal is to create a platform that will help to grow very premature babies born at 21-24 weeks of pregnancy.
For several decades, despite the development of medicine, the survival rate of such infants remains low. An important step towards this goal was made by researchers from Japan's Tohoku University. According to the press release of Artificial womb technology breaks its 4 minute mile, the team for the first time in the world presented data that confirm the ability of an artificial uterus to support severely premature embryos.
("For the first time in the world" let it remain on the conscience of the author of the press release. In fact, two years ago, six of the same lambs developed in a similarly arranged uterus not for five days, but for four weeks, and the period was limited not by the capabilities of the system, but by the protocol of the experiment – VM).
In the course of the experiments described here, scientists managed to maintain life in premature lambs weighing 600-700 g for five days, which is equivalent to a human fetus at 24 weeks of pregnancy.
This result confirms the clinical potential of the technology, that is, the ability to apply it to people.
According to the researchers, an artificial uterus should serve as a kind of bridge between the mother's body and the outside world. Staying in it will give severely premature babies time to form lungs and cardiovascular system. The authors hope that in the near future the technology will become standard in the care of such patients.
An artificial uterus is necessary for the care of premature babies, but an artificial placenta grown from stem cells will help you learn more about how pregnancy goes, determine the causes of miscarriages and test new drugs. Specialists from different countries are working on its creation.
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