Scientists grow whole model of human embryo, without sperm or egg 無需精子和卵子 科學(xué)家培育出人類胚胎完整模型

科學(xué)家們在不使用精子、卵子和子宮的情況下培育出了一種與人類早期胚胎非常相似的實體。魏茨曼研究所的研究團(tuán)隊稱，他們使用干細(xì)胞創(chuàng)建的 “胚胎模型” 看上去如同一個典型的發(fā)育到14天大的真實人類胚胎。

We all start as a single?egg?fertilised?by a?sperm, but those?steps, going from a group of cells to something you can see and recognise on a baby?scan, are poorly understood, so scientists have created?embryo?models?in the lab to explore this crucial time.

我們每個人的生命都是從一個受精卵開始的，但從起初的一組細(xì)胞發(fā)育成嬰兒掃描影像中可以看清并辨識出的胎兒，這之間經(jīng)過了哪些階段，我們知之甚少，因此科學(xué)家們在實驗室中創(chuàng)建了胚胎模型，以探索這個關(guān)鍵時期究竟發(fā)生了什么。

Instead of sperm and egg, they use?stem cells. These can become any?tissue?in our bodies. They're grown in just the right way to?mimic?a two-week-old human embryo.

科學(xué)家們用干細(xì)胞代替精子和卵子來培育胚胎。干細(xì)胞可以分化為體內(nèi)的各種組織細(xì)胞類型。他們精心培育這些干細(xì)胞，使其模擬兩周大人類胚胎的結(jié)構(gòu)。

The researchers hope their work can help improve?IVF?rates, understand?miscarriage?and even test which medicines are safe to use in pregnancy.

研究人員們希望他們的工作成果能夠幫助提高體外受精的成功率、找到導(dǎo)致流產(chǎn)的原因，甚至能夠幫助測試懷孕期間使用哪些藥物是安全的。

詞匯表

egg 卵子
fertilised 受精
sperm 精子
steps 階段
scan 掃描
embryo 胚胎
models 模型
stem cells 干細(xì)胞
tissue （人體）組織
mimic 模擬
IVF 體外受精
miscarriage 流產(chǎn)

閱讀理解：請在讀完上文后，回答下列問題。

1. Why have scientists created embryo models?

2. What type of cells are scientists using?

3. True or false??The stem cells grown by the scientists are like a two-week-old human embryo.

4. What do researchers want to achieve with their work?

答案

1. Why have scientists created embryo models?

Because the steps going from a group of cells to something you can see and recognise on a baby scan are poorly understood.

2. What type of cells are scientists using?

Instead of sperm and egg, they use stem cells.

3. True or false??The stem cells grown by the scientists are like a two-week-old human embryo.

True. The stem cells are grown in just the right way to mimic a two-week-old human embryo.

4. What do researchers want to achieve with their work?

The researchers hope their work can help improve IVF rates, understand miscarriage and even test which medicines are safe to use in pregnancy.

文章來源BBC侵權(quán)刪。