Chinese scientists built a 3D model of a 2-3 week old human embryo

Scientists have studied the activity of signaling pathways along the embryonic axis to understand more about miscarriages and embryonic disorders in the early stages of formation.

3D image of a human embryo at 3 weeks old. (Photo: cults3d).

Chinese scientists have built a 3D model of a human embryo 2-3 weeks after conception, opening up new prospects for studying the very early stages of human embryo development.

The research was just published in the journal Cell.

Due to ethical concerns, in vitro culture of human embryos is limited to 14 days of age, so the development of human embryos from 14 to 21 days post-conception is often considered a "black box".

Researchers from the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Agricultural University conducted high-resolution rendering from 38,562 gene locations of human embryos and then built a 3D model of it by combining gene expression patterns and spatial information.

In addition, they studied the functioning of embryonic axial signaling pathways.

According to scientists, this study helps understand more cases of miscarriage and embryo disorders in the early stages of formation.