Human embryos susceptible to coronavirus in early stages of development, scientists say – science & space

MOSCOW, January 22 / TASS /. American and British biologists have found that embryonic cells in the early stages of development will be very susceptible to coronavirus attacks if its particles do manage to enter a pregnant woman’s system. The results of their observations were published in an article in the bioRxiv electronic library.

“Our finding that pre-implantation embryos are permissive to SARSCoV-2 entry highlights a potential vulnerability of these embryos in vivo. Additionally, the data presented here should prompt a careful examination of the procedures surrounding in vitro fertilization during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, ”the researchers wrote.

Last February, Chinese biologists detected signs that the coronavirus SARS-COV-2, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, could infect the placental cells of pregnant women. This led scientists to suspect that the pathogen could spread intrauterine, entering an embryo through a placenta.

On the other hand, later observations have shown that such cases are rare. Moreover, scientists were unable to record the visible consequences of coronavirus infection penetrating the tissues of an embryo. Such uncertainty has given rise to many arguments as to whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus is dangerous for unborn children.

Consequences of infection

A group of American and British molecular biologists led by researcher Mauricio Montano of Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, United States, for the first time attempted to obtain direct answers to this question by experimenting with excess embryos from fertility treatment and in vitro fertilization, strictly given for research, and analogues of SARS-CoV-2 particles.

Biologists were interested in two things – whether ACE2 receptors and TMPRSS2 proteases, crucial for the spread of the coronavirus, are present on the surface of embryonic cells, and if so, whether fragments of the SARS membrane – CoV-2 can penetrate them.

It turned out that the answer was yes for all embryos obtained from donors of very different ethnic origins. Their cells were indeed developing a large amount of ACE2 and TMPRSS proteins, and the coronavirus particle models easily penetrated them, leading to their massive death despite the inability of the models to reproduce.

Such experimental results, as the researchers noted, indicate that embryos will be particularly susceptible to coronavirus infection in the early stages of their development when they are no longer protected by a special glycoprotein membrane that surrounds unfertilized eggs. while the placenta and the own immune system has not yet been formed.

For this reason, scientists propose to reflect on additional precautionary measures in the operation of fertility clinics as well as to study in detail the effect of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on embryos of various animal models.