Trying not to put all the eggs in one basket
(A little more stem cell-related news)
Mark Gibson noted news of a stem-cell derived medical treatment yesterday.
Today Tammy sent me a link to research on a parthenogenetic approach to possibly cultivating stem cells. The latter uses a method to trick eggs from a human female into responding as if they'd been fertilized, causing them to begin to multiply until, after 4 or 5 days, they reach a 100-150 cell blastocyst stage. The ethical advantage of the method is that it is supposed to avoid using an actual embryo. Some confusion is evident, though, as it's not exactly clear why a blastocyst built up of cells with two sets of the mother's chromosomes wouldn't be considered a potential human being -- unless it's just an artificially-induced clutch of female eggs and not a blastocyst at all. The trick appears to be one of causing the eggs to behave as if they were fertilized, treating both sets of chromosomes they initially carry as part of a complete and fertilized cell. Normally, the egg jettisons one of the sets of the mother's chromosomes within a couple hours of fertlzations, but these treated eggs apparently hold onto them.
Thusfar this artificial creation of a possible... pseudo-embryo has yet to yield any stem cells, and that includes work done on an alternate, chemical method of doing the same thing that was conducted in 2003 (also referenced in the article.) My impression at the moment is that this research seems more likely to result in yields for the fertility "industry" - by providing a way of increasing the number of eggs a woman has - than it is to produce a useful supply of stem cells.
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