2023-10-02 Scientists grow whole model of human embryo, without sperm or egg 无需精子和卵子 科学家培育出人类胚胎完整模型

科学家们在不使用精子、卵子和子宫的情况下培育出了一种与人类早期胚胎非常相似的实体。魏茨曼研究所的研究团队称，他们使用干细胞创建的 “胚胎模型” 看上去如同一个典型的发育到14天大的真实人类胚胎。

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.

我们每个人的生命都是从一个受精卵开始的，但从起初的一组细胞发育成婴儿扫描影像中可以看清并辨识出的胎儿，这之间经过了哪些阶段，我们知之甚少，因此科学家们在实验室中创建了胚胎模型，以探索这个关键时期究竟发生了什么。

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.

科学家们用干细胞代替精子和卵子来培育胚胎。干细胞可以分化为体内的各种组织细胞类型。他们精心培育这些干细胞，使其模拟两周大人类胚胎的结构。

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

研究人员们希望他们的工作成果能够帮助提高体外受精的成功率、找到导致流产的原因，甚至能够帮助测试怀孕期间使用哪些药物是安全的。

词汇表

egg 卵子
fertilised 受精
sperm 精子
steps 阶段
scan 扫描
embryo 胚胎
models 模型
stem cells 干细胞
tissue （人体）组织
mimic 模拟
IVF 体外受精
miscarriage 流产

阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题。

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.