Our scientist unveiled the mystery of primate gut movement for the first time.

　　Guangming Daily, Beijing, November 2 (Reporter Yang Shu) A critical developmental period of mammalian fertilized eggs after implantation in uterus is called "gastrula movement". On October 31st, 2019, the international journal Science published a research achievement from China Academy of Sciences online. The research team successfully reproduced the development process of primordial movement of primate embryos for the first time by culturing cynomolgus monkey embryos in vitro.

　　The research results were jointly completed by Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Innovation Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, China Academy of Sciences. Many scientists have commented that uncovering the mystery of this critical stage will provide important data for human beings to deeply understand embryo development and optimize assisted reproductive technology.

　　Wang Hongmei, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that gastrula movement is one of the most important stages in the early development of animal embryos, and abnormality in this process can easily lead to pregnancy failure or organ development defects, and human women of childbearing age often have a risk of spontaneous abortion of 20% ~ 30% at this stage, so gastrula movement has high research value. However, the gastrula movement occurs after the embryo is implanted in the uterus. Due to technical and ethical restrictions, scientists are "invisible and intangible" about this development stage of primate embryos.

　　This time, the research team selected a primate close to human beings — — Crab-eating monkeys as the research object. By establishing a mature embryo culture system in vitro, the researchers successfully cultured the cynomolgus monkey embryos to 20 days after fertilization, thus highly reproducing the development process of embryo gastrulation, and proving for the first time that primate embryos can develop to gastrulation in vitro without maternal support. At the same time, researchers have also obtained the gene expression characteristics of amniotic cells during the early embryonic development of primates, and redefined various cell types of early embryos of primates.

　　Qiao Jie, an academician of China Academy of Engineering, said: "Monkeys are considered as reliable animal models for studying human physiology and pathology. This achievement will greatly improve our understanding of primate and human early embryonic development, especially for the discussion of the causes of adverse pregnancy and fetal malformation."

　　Sha Jiahao, a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine of Nanjing Medical University, said that this achievement is an important basic breakthrough in the field of biology, which not only fills the theoretical gap in the mechanism of embryo development in higher animals, but also provides basic theoretical guidance and develops new treatment methods for clinical treatment of infertility and prevention of birth defects. In addition, it is also of great significance to the research of regenerative medicine and will promote the development of human reproductive medicine.