A group of scientists in Spain recorded human embryo implantation for the first time ever in real time and in 3D, and they hope that their work is able to help people successfully carry babies to term.
The work was conducted by researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in collaboration with reproductive medicine department at the Dexeus Mujer–Hospital Universitari Dexeus. The images were shared in a press release published by IBEC on August 15.
“We have observed that human embryos burrow into the uterus, exerting considerable force during the process. These forces are necessary because the embryos must be able to invade the uterine tissue, becoming completely integrated with it. It is a surprisingly invasive process," said Samuel Ojosnegros, principal investigator of the IBEC’s Bioengineering for Reproductive Health group and the leader of the study, said in the release.
While many women claim to have experienced bleeding and abdominal pain during implantation, "the process itself had never been observed before," he said.
About 60% of miscarriages are caused by a failure of the implementation process, said the release from IBEC. Before these experiments, the implementation process had never been observed in real time, and had only been observed in still images.
Ethical problems
While the scientists are hopeful that this new data can help prevent miscarriages and help scientists learn more about how embryos implant in the uterus, the way this experiment was conducted has serious ethical and moral problems.
The human embryos used in the experiment were donated for research purposes, said IBEC, and the recorded embryos were not implanted in a woman's uterus.
Instead, "the IBEC research team developed a platform that allows embryos to implant outside the uterus under controlled conditions."
This platform was "based on a gel composed of an artificial matrix" that contained collagen and "various proteins necessary for embryo development."
The Catholic Church is opposed to in vitro fertilization (IVF), the process of creating embryos outside of a womb.
"Invariably several embryos are brought into existence; only those which show the greatest promise of growing to term are implanted in the womb," said "Begotten Not Made: A Catholic View of Reproductive Technology," a document available on the USCCB's website.
"The others are simply discarded or used for experiments. This is a terrible offense against human life. While a little baby may ultimately be born because of this procedure, other lives are usually snuffed out in the process."
