In a first, scientists capture the implementation of human embryos in real time

A team of scientists has just seen one of the oldest and most fundamental stages closer to creating a human life. Research today underlines how they captured – for the first time – the implantation foot of human embryos, just as happens.

Researchers from the Bio-Engineering Institute of Catalonia (IBEC), in collaboration with the Dexeus University Hospital, detailed their work in a study published Friday in Science Advances. Among other things, images show that human embryos use strength to deeply dig into the uterus for implantation. The new method can allow scientists to better understand why embryos do not often manage to implant and one day improve the treatment of fertility, according to researchers.

“The reason why we want to start studying the establishment is that the establishment is the main road dam in human reproduction,” an author of the study, the study author, principal researcher of the Bio-Engroductive Health of Ibec. “But we know very little about it and we know very little because it happens inside the mother.”

Scientists have certainly learned a lot over time on the development of the human embryo. But there have been limits to this research, notes Ojosnegros. We were unable to study the first days of the human embryo in real time, before implantation. After that, most research examines snapshots of the development of embryos, generally taken from other non -human animals. These animal models are an important tool, but they cannot tell us as much about how humans develop in the uterus. Implementation is the first step in gestation, and it is only after an embryo integrates into the uterus that pregnancy is considered to have really started.

The team, also managed by scientists Amélie Godeau and Anna Seriola, has created a material that could imitate the external uterine fabric to which an embryo attaches for the implantation. This gel type matrix is mainly made of collagen but is also imbued with other important proteins for the development of embryos. With their creation in hand, they were now able to record under a microscope how the human embryo is established. They also studied mouse embryos for comparison and noticed certain important differences.

“The mouse embryo, if you put it on the matrix, stays superficially, propagates, but will not take it. It will spread mainly superficially. Although humans, if you put him on the surface, he will dig a hole, penetrate, and he buried in some way himself inside, then will begin to grow,” explained Ojosnegros. “So the human embryo is stronger, it is larger and it is much more invasive.”

There are still many mysteries to be resolved on the implantation process, including the exact mechanisms that the embryo uses to invade the uterus so aggressively. But the lessons that Ojosnegros and other scientists can learn from this work could help families in the future. Researchers note that only about 30% of embryos (whether from natural birth or in vitro fertilization) do so until birth, and those who do not, most are lost during implantation or immediately after. Thus, being able to see how the process takes place could provide vital clues to how to prevent false layers or otherwise improve fertility.

The researchers plan to continue to study the ins and outs of the implantation of embryos, but they also hope to normalize the materials used for this research so that others can conduct their own similar experiences. Ojosnegros also wishes to highlight the contributions of the Dexeus University Hospital and patients whose given embryos made this work possible in the first place.

“I think it is good to recognize that without the generosity of patients who donated embryos for research, we could not study our own species,” he said.