Nature Communications: A new breakthrough in constructing embryo models from stem cells

Generating correctly differentiated embryonic structures from pluripotent stem cells in vitro has always been a challenge

This article entitled "Construction of a mammalian embryo model from stem cells organized by a morphogen signalling centre" was published in the journal Nature Communications on June 2

In recent years, scientists have done a lot of work in repeating the development of mammalian embryos in vitro

To this end, a research team led by Christine Thisse, a professor of cell biology at the University of Virginia, tried to achieve extensive embryo development by designing a local morphogen signal center in mouse embryonic stem cell aggregates

Therefore, the researchers designed a signal center that secretes WNT3 and NODAL in mouse ESC aggregates (Figure 1)

Through analysis such as in situ hybridization, they found that the embryoid bodies showed clear evidence of gastrulation, and the mesodermal cell movement involved was similar to that observed in mouse embryos

Later, the researchers observed the formation of three germ layer derivatives

Finally, they also identified the ectoderm that differentiated into neural plate-like structures

A large number of cells and single-cell transcriptomics analysis also confirmed their observations that the embryoid body has undergone the pattern formation of three germ layers along the anterior and posterior axis and the dorsal-ventral axis

All in all, this new embryoid body model shows that people have made significant progress in repeating the development of mammalian embryos in vitro

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