'Mini placentas' grown in the laboratory could solve the mysteries of pregnancy

Scientists believe that "mini placentas" created by British scientists could help prevent devastating pregnancy losses.

"Organoids" have been developed at the University of Cambridge as a tool to unlock some of the mysteries of early pregnancy.

In the future, they could reveal secrets that will help scientists solve problems such as miscarriages, stillbirths and premature births.

The Cambridge team developed organ models using villous cells, tiny structures resembling slingshots, extracted from placental tissues.

In the laboratory, organoids are organized into multicellular structures capable of secreting proteins and hormones that affect the mother's metabolism during pregnancy.

The badysis showed that they looked a lot like normal placentas during the first month of pregnancy.

They looked so much like reality: they recorded a positive response when they were subjected to an over-the-counter pregnancy test.

Professor Graham Burton, Director of the University of Cambridge Center for Trophoblast Research, a member of the research team, said: "These 'mini placentas' build on decades of research and we believe they will transform the work in this area.

"They will play an important role in helping us investigate the events that occur during the early stages of pregnancy and yet have profound consequences for the lifetime health of the mother and her offspring.

"The placenta provides all the oxygen and nutrients essential for the growth of the fetus, and if it does not grow properly, the pregnancy may unfortunately end with a low birth weight baby or even a stillbirth. "

Many pregnancies fail because the embryo does not attach properly to the uterine lining.

But little is known about this critical early stage of pregnancy, scientists said in the journal Nature.

Animals are too different from humans to provide useful models for placental development and implantation.

The new placenta model is badociated with a range of organoids used in research, including "mini-livers", "mini-lungs" and even "mini-brains".

Last year, the same team reported having developed miniature functional models of the uterine lining.

Dr. Margherita Turco, lead author, said, "The placenta is absolutely essential to support the growing baby inside the mother.

"When it does not work properly, it can result in serious problems, from pre-eclampsia to miscarriage, with immediate and lasting consequences for the mother and child. But our knowledge of this important organ is very limited because of the lack of good experimental models. "

Organoids could answer unresolved questions about the relationships between the placenta, the uterus and the fetus, the scientists said.

For example, experts do not know why the placenta prevents certain infections from pbading from mother to child, while others, such as the Zika virus, are allowed.

Mini placentas could also be used to check the safety of new drugs taken in early pregnancy and to explain how chromosomal abnormalities can interfere with the normal development of the baby.

In the future, they could also offer stem cell-based therapies for unsuccessful pregnancies, the researchers said.