VOA健康报道2023 科学家使用干细胞创造胚胎模型研究人类早期发育（在线收听）

Scientists say they have successfully created embryo models designed to support research on early human development.

科学家们表示，他们已经成功造出了胚胎模型，目的是支持对人类早期发育进行研究。

The models are made from stem cells – simple cells in the body that can develop into one of many specialized cells. Researchers say the embryo models cannot grow into babies. But they are meant to be complete enough to provide information about what might be going on in the embryo during a pregnancy.

这些模型是由干细胞制成的，干细胞是体内的简单细胞，可以发育成许多特殊细胞中的一种。研究人员说，该胚胎模型不能长成婴儿。但它们应该足够完整，可以提供孕期胚胎可能发生情况的信息。

The use of embryo models permits scientists to carry out research without the ethical concerns linked to experiments using real embryos.

胚胎模型的使用使科学家能够在避免真实胚胎实验相关伦理问题的情况下进行研究。

Several groups are working on the research. Teams from the United States and England shared their work in two studies that recently appeared in the publication Nature. Other scientists in Israel and China published studies on their work earlier this month. Those studies, however, have not yet been examined by a wider community of scientists.

几个团队正在进行这项研究。来自美国和英国的团队在最近发表在《自然》杂志上的两项研究中分享了他们的成果。本月早些时候，以色列和中国的科学家发表了他们的研究。然而，这些研究尚未得到更广泛的科学家群体的审查。

Insoo Hyun is an ethicist and director of life sciences at Boston's Museum of Science. He is also a member of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School.

玄仁秀是波士顿科学博物馆的伦理学家和生命科学主任。他也是哈佛医学院生物伦理学中心的成员。

Hyun told The Associated Press that past research has centered on a process that creates "pre-embryos" designed to behave like real embryos. But the latest creations model an embryo after it has reached the uterus. Real human embryos can be extremely hard to see at that point in the process because they attach themselves deep into the uterus.

玄仁秀告诉美联社，过去的研究集中在创造“前期胚胎”的过程上，目的是反应出真实的胚胎。但这项最新创造是对到达子宫后的胚胎进行建模。真正的人类胚胎在这个阶段很难被看到，因为它们深深地附着在子宫里。

Each team's models differ in how complete they are, Hyun said. For these kinds of models, scientists use a kind of stem cell that is able to develop into many different kinds of cells or tissues in the body. They can be formed from embryos or reprogrammed from adult tissues.

玄仁秀说，每个团队的模型在完整程度上各不相同。对于这些类型的模型，科学家们使用一种能够在体内发育成许多不同类型的细胞或组织的干细胞。它们可以由胚胎形成，也可以由成体组织重新编程形成。

The writers of several studies described models that look similar to human embryos nine to 14 days after fertilization.

几项研究的作者描述了类似于人类胚胎受精后9至14天后的模型。

Berna Sozen studies developmental stem cell biology at Yale University in Connecticut. She told The Associated Press, "If we can experimentally model this period, then we can finally start asking questions about how human development happens in those very early stages that are normally hidden within the body of the mother."

贝纳·索森在康涅狄格州的耶鲁大学研究发育干细胞生物学。她对美联社表示：“如果我们能对这一时期进行实验建模，那么我们终于可以开始问一些问题，即人类的发育在那些通常隐藏在母亲体内的早期阶段是如何发生的。”

Sozen added that scientists should be able to use the models to study embryonic failure, developmental disorders and pregnancy loss. Currently, scientists do not understand a lot about how those things happen, she said.

索森还说，科学家应该能够使用这些模型来研究胚胎衰竭、发育障碍和妊娠失败。她说，科学家们目前对这些事情是如何发生的还不太了解。

Another study was led by Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, an expert in stem cell biology at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge in England. She said the model her group worked with appears similar to embryo development up to 14 days from fertilization.

另一项研究由加州理工学院和英国剑桥大学的干细胞生物学专家玛格达莱娜·泽尼克-格茨领导。她称自己团队所研究的模型看起来与受精后14天的胚胎发育相似。

The researchers say that model contains embryonic tissues and other tissues that can produce structures surrounding the embryo, such as the placenta and yolk material. The placenta is a structure that develops in pregnancy and attaches to the uterine wall.

研究人员表示，该模型包含胚胎组织和能够继续产生胚胎周围结构（比如胎盘和卵黄囊）的组织。胎盘是一种在妊娠期发育并附着在子宫壁上的结构。

In the future, Zernicka-Goetz said researchers could use human embryo models to explore the effects of the environment and chemicals on early human development.

泽尼克-格茨表示，未来研究人员可以使用人类胚胎模型来探索环境和化学物质对人类早期发育的影响。

Yale University's Sozen said scientists could also test drugs on embryo models and combine them with germs in experiments that currently cannot be done on pregnant individuals.

耶鲁大学的索森说，科学家们还可以在胚胎模型上测试药物，并在目前无法在孕妇身上做的实验中将其与细菌结合。