Researchers have developed new models of early human development

British scientists have described a new three-dimensional tissue culture model for early embryonic development in humans. The model uses human cells or may help improve understanding of this important stage of development. On June 11th, the paper was published in Nature.
In the early stages of development, human embryos are just small groups of cells that fold themselves to form a three-layer structure with front and rear ends - the primary embryo, a process known as the primary embryo formation, after which the embryo layers continue to form different types of tissue in the body. Scientists have previously used mouse cells to make 3D models, but it has been difficult to study human primary embryo formation due to the lack of suitable models.
Afonso Martinez Arias of the University of Cambridge and colleagues reported on a three-dimensional "primary embryo" structure using human embryonic stem cells. The primary embryo is composed of suspended cultured human embryonic stem cell aggregates, which can reproduce the key events of early human development. Cell differentiation forms a derivative of the three embryo layers, and the primary intestinal embryo then e lengthens to produce the front and rear ends.
also observed key changes in gene expression, suggesting that a three-day-old primary embryo could simulate some of the key features of a 20-day-old human embryo. They believe the model marks the first step in scientists' three-dimensional simulation of human development. (Source: Tang Erdu, China Science Journal)
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