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Institute for Reproductive Medicine Discovers a Potential Alternative Source for Human Embryonic Stem Cells Livingston, N.J. --Two members of the research team of The Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of Saint Barnabas Medical Center have pioneered a method of obtaining a potential alternative source for human embryonic stem cells that does not require the creation of new embryos or the destruction of viable embryos. This source, which the research team created by combining normal-appearing cells from abnormal embryos that would otherwise be discarded, offers the promise of human embryonic stem cell research without the ethical dilemma of using viable embryos. The results of this research are published in the forthcoming web journal, Reproductive Biomedicine Online, an international journal for peer-reviewed biomedical research. “We discovered that component cells from abnormal embryos can still regulate development when put with other normal cells,” say Mina Alikani, M.Sc. and Steen M. Willadsen, Ph. D., D.V.M., authors of the journal article and members of the Saint Barnabas research team. “Although the original embryos are abnormal and cannot be transferred for a pregnancy or frozen for later use, they contain cells that hopefully can be used to create embryonic stem cell lines.” The research team, under the direction of distinguished Scientific Director Jacques Cohen, Ph.D., discovered that although many human IVF embryos do not meet basic viability criteria, such embryos often contain one or more surviving and apparently normal cells. On day 3 and day 4 after the creation of the embryos, the team removed what appeared to be normal cells from an average of four abnormal embryos, which would have been otherwise discarded. Then, they placed them as small clumps of cells inside an empty host zona pellucida, or protective shell, and grew them for approximately two days. Although unable to ever result in a viable pregnancy, some of the cells maintained their development potential by continuing to divide, forming what the team calls chimeric blastocyst-like structures. Of the group of composite embryos created by the Institute, 30 percent developed into blastocyst-like structures. These blastocyst-like structures are smaller than regular blastocysts and contain fewer cells (27 to 56 cells as opposed to 150 cells), but their overall appearance is surprisingly regular and normally organized. Further investigation has shown that 50 to 90 percent of the blastocyst-like structures are diploid (contained normal chromosome sets). Equally important, the resulting blastocyst-like structures have been found to have inner cell masses, the key to the creation of stem cell lines. It is the inner cell mass that can form virtually every type of cell found in the human body. While the creation of similar chimeric blastocysts has been used in the study of other species, it has been overlooked in the study of human embryos, says Dr. Cohen. Although the team has not produced stem cell lines from these blastocyst-like structures, there is every indication that the stem cell mass within them can be used to begin the production of embryonic stem cell lines. The creation of the blastocyst-like structures for use in the development of stem cell lines is an exciting advance for a variety of reasons: § The new process eliminates the ethical dilemma that often surrounds the creation of stem cell lines from fetal tissue from terminated pregnancies or from excess embryos resulting from fertility treatment. While excess embryos are often healthy enough to result in a viable pregnancy if transferred, the embryos from the Institute’s research had abnormalities resulting from such conditions as cell fragmentation and degeneration that made them incapable of resulting in a viable pregnancy. § The cost of producing these potential sources of stem cells is minimal as compared to the cost of starting stem cell lines from the creation of viable embryos. Clinics would have a possible use for abnormal embryos that would otherwise be discarded. § These abnormal embryos result from natural circumstances and abnormalities will continue to occur spontaneously whether or not some use is found for them. As such, they are a natural source of potential stem cells from a material that otherwise has no reproductive value. As one of the nations leading fertility centers, the Institute provides patients with state-of-the-art clinical treatments supported by the latest scientific knowledge and laboratory techniques. The Institute maintains pregnancy rates that are among the highest in the world and treats patients from 43 states and 17 foreign countries. Leading the clinical team is David Sable, M.D., Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology. World-renowned embryologist Dr. Cohen and his research team have accomplished almost every major medical breakthrough in the field of reproductive medicine. The following methods were either invented or pioneered by Dr. Cohen and his team: assisted fertilization that later lead to the development of ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) that was fine-tuned by others, Assisted Hatching, Fragment Removal, Embryo Co-Culture, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis for Chromosomes, Blastocyst Culture and Cryopreservation, Cytoplasmic Transplantation and Single Sperm Freezing. For an appointment with the Institute of Reproductive Medicine and Science, at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, a non-profit, nonsectarian hospital, please call (973) 322-8286. For further questions about the material in this release or for interviews, please contact the Public Relations Department at (973) 322-4300.
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