These scientists have successfully grown premature lambs in artificial wombs, a technological achievement that in three years could lead to the save lives. The lamb is sealed in a sterile, clear plastic bag, to which is attached a number of tubes. The setup is, in fact, an artificial womb – one that protects and nurtures lambs in the late gestation period.
According to study senior researcher and CHOP fetal surgeon Alan Flake: “What we tried to do is develop a system that mimics the environment of the womb as closely as possible. It’s basically an artificial womb.”
The research team gathered eight lambs between 105 and 120 days in the gestation stage (which in humans is equivalent to between 23 and 24 weeks in the womb), then enclosed each within an artificial womb.
Each womb contains an electrolyte solution that mimics the amniotic fluid-filled environment of the uterus.
Pumped by its own heart, the lamb’s blood is conveyed through its umbilical cord and into oxygenator devices situated outside the bag. Activated by this blood-pumping, the oxygenators then act like a placenta by providing the lamb with oxygen and an assortment of substances vital to survival.
Four weeks after the lambs had been placed within them, their lungs and brains had already matured, and were even free of abnormalities. They could swallow, blink their eyes open and close, wiggle, and had even grown wool.
Flake said: “We’ve been extremely successful in replacing the conditions in the womb in our lamb model.”
“They’ve had normal growth. They’ve had normal lung maturation. They’ve had normal brain maturation. They’ve had normal development in every way that we can measure it.”
0 Mga Komento