U.S. researchers use embryonic human egg cells to culture embryonic stem cells

A new issue of the British magazine Nature published a report on the 6th that American researchers have used embryonic human egg cells to culture embryonic stem cells. An editorial published by the magazine pointed out that this is the closest to the development of human embryonic stem cells available since the “Huang Yuxi’s falsification incident”, and it has proved to be a viable path in the general direction.

The genetic material in the somatic cells is implanted into the egg cells, and it is cultivated into embryonic stem cells and even finally, a new individual is cultivated, which is often referred to as a cloning technique. In 2004, South Korean researcher Huang Yuxi once claimed that using this method to cultivate human embryonic stem cells caused a momentary sensation, but it turned out to be a fraud incident.

Since then, many scientific researchers have made attempts in this area, but they have not been successful. The obstacle faced by related studies is that if the genetic material in human egg cells is first removed and the genetic material of another somatic cell is implanted, the resulting egg cells will stop developing after several times of division.

Researchers at the New York Stem Cell Fund Laboratory and Other institutions in the United States reported that if left behind a portion of the genetic material in the original egg cells, plus additional genetic material of somatic cells, the resulting egg cells can develop to have 70 to 100 The blastocyst stage of the cells reaches the stage where embryonic stem cells can be extracted.

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into various tissues and organs. If human embryonic stem cells can be cultivated, it means that they can cultivate tissues and organs belonging to one's own people and can be used for personalized medicine.

Although this study can develop human embryonic stem cells, it also has some defects. The most important is that there are three chromosomes in these cells, namely the original chromosome of egg cells and the two chromosomes from somatic cells, while the normal human cells have only two chromosomes. Therefore, such human embryonic stem cells are not yet practical.