New 3D tissue models help solve the mystery of early embryonic development in humans

LONDON, June 11 (Xinhua Zhang Jiawei) -- An international team has used human embryonic stem cells to create a new three-dimensional tissue culture model, which could help improve the academic community's understanding of early human embryonic development, according to research published online Monday in the British journal Nature.
In the early stages of human development, embryos are just small groups of cells that fold themselves to form a three-layer structure with front and rear ends, that is, the primary embryo, a process known as the formation of the primary intestinal embryo, after which the embryo layers continue to form different types of tissue in the body. Previously, most of the academic community used mouse cells to make three-dimensional models, but this is not enough to study the formation of human primary embryo.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge and others used human embryonic stem cells to create a three-dimensional "primary intestinal embryo" structure consisting of suspended cultured human embryonic stem cell aggregates that can reproduce key events in early human development. Cell differentiation forms a derivative of the three embryo layers, and the "primary intestinal embryo" e lengthens, producing the front and rear ends.
researchers point out that a three-day-old "primary embryo" can simulate some of the key characteristics of a 20-day-old human embryo. The researchers believe the model marks the first step toward three-dimensional simulations of human development.Dr Naomi Morris of the University of Cambridge, one of the co-authors of the
report, said the new three-dimensional model gives us the opportunity to better explore early human embryo development in the laboratory, which researchers could use in the future to analyze the causes behind birth defects and so on.