Scientists can now create realistic human embryo models in the lab, leading some to suggest that we rethink how we legally define an embryo.
Scientists can now create embryo-like structures from animal and human stem cells in the lab, and recently, researchers unveiled the most advanced human embryo models yet, which resemble natural embryos up to 14 days after fertilization.
But in a paper published Aug. 17 in the journal Cell, researchers argue embryos should be defined based on whether they can become a living organism, rather than how they were made. They propose that a human embryo be defined as"a group of human cells supported by elements fulfilling extraembryonic and uterine functions that, combined, have the potential to form a fetus."
Figuring out this legal definition is important because the technology for carrying these self-organizing structures further into development, up to the stage where an embryo becomes a fetus and beyond, could be here within a decade, the scientists say. And without those legal tipping points defined, some scientists would be free to potentially carry these models far into gestation, or even attempt to create a living human from them.
Theoretically, gastruloids could be grown in a lab for more than 14 days. But they generally aren't, due to a"14-day rule" upheld by law or by research regulations in various countries. Some researchers, including an influential scientific panel, have called for the rule to be loosened to allow for embryos and embryo models to be grown for longer.
Why change the definition now?Early definitions of embryos always included eggs and sperm. These ingredients would give rise to a group of cells that self-organized and could form an offspring.
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