At some point in the future I expected to see something like this. Some sort of science fiction technology that would allow for humans and animals to be grown in other forms of a makeshift uterus could very well be possible. Well, that time appears to be now.Published on the 25 of April, 2017, a study was proven to grow a fetal lamb outside of its mother in an artificial uterine-system. Now, mind you, the technology proven to work here does not mean we have reached the point where we could take an egg outside of the mother, insert it into this system, and a baby would grow completely fine. This artificial uterine-system is a method to continue the development of a baby that might have been born prematurely or that still needed time to develop. In addition, this new form of a makeshift uterus (being called the BioBag) has only been tested on sheep as of now.
The BioBag works by mimicking the conditions of a uterus within the mother. For starters, a pump filters in amniotic fluid into the pouch that the baby is located. That fluid is cycled out in order to provide healthy amniotic fluid through pressure derived at the other end that forces out the old fluid. In addition, a gas blender keeps the environment in check by providing the correct amount of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, and Oxygen within the pouch to ensure the baby's survival. Finally, an umbilical system is attached to the baby to provide nutrients, oxygenated blood, and medicine to keep the baby healthy and alive. All of the data taken from the study was proven to show statistical correlation with what the lamb receives while growing in the mother.
To prove that this study showed positive results with a premature baby, the lamb used was developmentally equivalent to an extreme premature baby. The lamb survived and thrived in this artificial uterine-system for 4 weeks. However, further research remains a priority. Lambs and Humans develop different, with different brain capacities and functions that separate the two. Overtime, human trials may be a possibility. "I think its realistic to think about three years for first-in-human-trials," said Alan Flake, who is one of the lead writers on this study.
So we aren't quite at the point yet where we can grow babies completely outside of the mother. But this discovery could help save the lives of thousands of prematurely born babies. Soon after, we may be able to assist the growth of endangered species by recreating the uterine-system to harbor the babies of those species. We may even have the ability to combine this technology with cloning to finally create those dinosaurs we see in Jurassic Park (I really hope not, we have many movies to show why growing actual dinosaurs is a bad idea). The point of this study is to find a way to assist prematurely born babies in a better way than what we have now. It's not completely done yet, but it is an incredibly important first step into saving those babies' lives.
Thanks to Kate Berglung for sending in the following article for information on this topic!:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/25/15421734/artificial-womb-fetus-biobag-uterus-lamb-sheep-birth-premie-preterm-infant
The research paper published on April 25 can be read here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15112
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