UK creates artificial embryo that produces blood

A team of scientists from the United Kingdom has created a three-dimensional embryo model capable of replicating some characteristics of early human development, such as the production of blood cells, EFE reported on Monday.

"Our new model mimics the development of human fetal blood (the blood that circulates in the baby during pregnancy) in the laboratory," said one of the scientists and a cell biologist at the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge.

Hematoids (three-dimensional model) have “great potential” that allows for a better understanding of blood formation during the early stages of human development.

The new three-dimensional structures can also simulate diseases like leukemia (a group of cancers) and produce long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants , according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. Stem cells have the ability to divide indefinitely.

The new model, similar to a human embryo, published in the scientific journal Cell Reports , simulates the cellular changes that occur during the early stages of human development, when organs and the blood system begin to form.

On the second day, the hematoids organized themselves into three germ layers, essential for embryonic development: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. These layers "are crucial for shaping all organs and tissues, including blood," reported EFE. On the eighth day, cardiac cells formed, giving rise to the heart in a human embryo. On the 13th day, the team observed the appearance of red blood spots in the hematoids, mimicking the developmental process of human embryos , according to a statement from the University of Cambridge.

Researchers also developed a method that demonstrated that blood stem cells in hematoids can differentiate into several types of blood cells, including specialized immune cells, such as T cells, which fight infections and abnormalities in the body.

The university also indicated that hematoids, which are still in the early stages of study, are different from real human embryos in many ways, noting that they lack several embryonic tissues, the yolk sac (which provides nutrients to the embryo) and the placenta.

According to the educational establishment, three-dimensional structures cannot be transformed into real embryos.