Modern biotechnology is advancing at such a rapid pace that its results would astound Stanley Kubrick himself. The scientific journal Nature Communications talks about a new project in which sheep embryos were placed in an artificial amniotic sac, called by the developers "biobag" (Biobag).
Separated from the environment by plastic, surrounded by an electrolyte solution and studded with numerous inlet and outlet tubes, the lambs successfully grew and developed within several weeks. They developed skin, brain, internal organs and hair, and eventually the lambs even learned to swallow.
This device could one day help human newborns to be carried outside the biological womb, but so far the technology has only been tested in sheep.
Alan Flake, a surgeon at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and lead author of today's study, tells reporters that the Biobag functions the way a uterus does. It contains an electrolyte solution that mimics the amniotic fluid inside the uterus. It also recreates the exchange of carbon dioxide. The basic idea, of course, is to eventually use the Biobag on humans.
According to the authors of the project, premature termination of pregnancy is the leading cause of death in newborns. In the United States, about 10 percent of babies are born prematurely. This means they were born before 37 weeks of gestation. However, about 6 percent, or 30,000, of these births are considered extremely preterm, meaning babies are born before the 28th week of pregnancy.
These babies need extremely intense therapeutic support. They require artificial temperature maintenance, intravenous administration of medicines, nutrients and fluids. As a rule, they also need artificial ventilation. But even if babies survive all of these procedures, 20 to 50 percent of them still suffer from many diseases that arise from underdeveloped organ systems.
Biobag solves all these problems, ultimately leading to the complete extrauteral development of the embryo, freeing women from the risks associated with pregnancy.
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