本期文章：《细胞—干细胞》：Volume 30 Issue 4

中国科学院脑科学与智能技术卓越创新中心刘真、孙强和清华大学生命科学学院周帆等合作取得一项新成果。他们利用猕猴胚胎模型揭示了原肠胚形成和早期怀孕的特征。相关论文于2023年4月6日发表于国际学术期刊《细胞—干细胞》杂志。

研究人员使用原始ESC培养了在形态学和转录组学中类似于囊胚的食蟹猴胚泡。这些胚泡通过延长体外培养（IVC）发育成具有卵黄囊、绒毛膜腔、羊膜腔、原肠胚等结构的胚胎盘。研究人员通过单细胞转录组学或免疫染色法观察了IVC食蟹猴胚层的原始生殖细胞、原肠胚细胞、内脏内胚层/卵黄囊内胚层、三胚层和血内皮祖细胞。

此外，将食蟹猴胚泡转移到代孕猴可成功受孕，表现为孕酮水平升高和早期妊娠囊的形成。该研究结果揭示了食蟹猴胚泡样体外原肠胚形成和体内早期妊娠的能力，为解析灵长类动物胚胎发育提供了一个有用的系统，并且消除了人类胚胎研究的伦理问题和获取难题。

据悉，人类干细胞来源的胚泡表现出与正常囊胚相似的形态和细胞谱系。然而，研究其发育潜能的能力有限。

附：英文原文

Title: Cynomolgus monkey embryo model captures gastrulation and early pregnancy

Author: Jie Li, Qingyuan Zhu, Jing Cao, Ying Liu, Yong Lu, Yining Sun, Qian Li, Yiming Huang, Shenshen Shang, Xinyan Bian, Chunyang Li, Liansheng Zhang, Yan Wang, Yanhong Nie, Jiqiang Fu, Wenjuan Li, Md. Abdul Mazid, Yu Jiang, Wenqi Jia, Xiaolong Wang, Yidi Sun, Miguel A. Esteban, Qiang Sun, Fan Zhou, Zhen Liu

Issue&Volume: 2023/04/06

Abstract: Human stem cell-derived blastoids display similar morphology and cell lineages to normal blastocysts. However, the ability to investigate their developmental potential is limited. Here, we construct cynomolgus monkey blastoids resembling blastocysts in morphology and transcriptomics using naive ESCs. These blastoids develop to embryonic disk with the structures of yolk sac, chorionic cavity, amnion cavity, primitive streak, and connecting stalk along the rostral-caudal axis through prolonged in vitro culture (IVC). Primordial germ cells, gastrulating cells, visceral endoderm/yolk sac endoderm, three germ layers, and hemato-endothelial progenitors in IVC cynomolgus monkey blastoids were observed by single-cell transcriptomics or immunostaining. Moreover, transferring cynomolgus monkey blastoids to surrogates achieves pregnancies, as indicated by progesterone levels and presence of early gestation sacs. Our results reveal the capacity of in vitro gastrulation and in vivo early pregnancy of cynomolgus monkey blastoids, providing a useful system to dissect primate embryonic development without the same ethical concerns and access challenges in human embryo study.

DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2023.03.009