Can Humans Reproduce in Space? Mice Show Promising Sign
DannyB writes:
Can humans reproduce in space? Mouse breakthrough on ISS a promising sign
This is the first-ever study that shows mammals may be able to thrive in space.
Researchers have successfully grown mouse embryos aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time.
This represents "the first-ever study that shows mammals may be able to thrive in space," the University of Yamanashi and National Research Institute Riken said in a joint statement on Saturday, adding that it is "the world's first experiment that cultured early-stage mammalian embryos under complete microgravity of ISS."
[ . . . . ] frozen mouse embryos were blasted to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in August 2021. After arriving at the space station, the early-stage rodent embryos were thawed using a special instrument. Following this, astronauts cultured the embryos under microgravity for four days. The samples were then returned to Earth, where Wakayama and colleagues could study and compare them to mouse embryos grown in normal gravity here on terra firma.
And sure enough, according to a paper published in the journal iScience, the team reported that embryos cultured under microgravity conditions developed into blastocysts - a cluster of dividing cells made by a fertilized egg - with normal cell numbers. The researchers said in the paper that this "clearly demonstrated that gravity had no significant effect on the blastocyst formation and initial differentiation of mammalian embryos."
The team also found that, if allowed, the blastocysts would grow into mouse fetuses and placentas while showing no significant DNA alterations or changes in gene expression. The survival rate of the embryos grown on the ISS was lower, however, than those cultivated here on Earth.
Sending a frozen human embryo to the ISS would not be as fresh as an embryo created on orbit.
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