Regulations 

Artificial womb. Artificial uterus: fantasy becomes reality? Difficult years of research

The time is approaching when the human embryo will no longer develop in a woman's uterus. The time of ectogenesis is coming, which from the Greek language means "development outside." Natural pregnancy will be optional, ectogenesis is a very complex process, but there are no biological barriers for it. Marie Mundy, a Belgian filmmaker, directed the film Artificial Womb: A Bodily Birth on the subject.

Zoltan Istvan, an American futurist, is confident that the next 30 years will bring mankind an artificial womb, with which it will be possible to conceive and grow a fetus. Scientists were interested in the idea of ​​extrauterine development back in 2001. Over the years, there have been successful experiments with growing mouse embryos in the "placental machine".

The goal of ectogenesis is to minimize the number of stillborn babies. In the incubator, the fetus will be constantly under the supervision of doctors, if the fetus begins to show abnormalities, then an injection can be administered to eliminate them.

The artificial womb will be created in such a way that it is possible to have free access to the embryo, while the embryo must have access to oxygen as well as nutrients. It is also necessary to provide a mechanism for waste disposal. We have a long time to wait for experiments on the human fetus, scientists are sure that they will be supported by women who, due to physiological problems, cannot have children, as well as same-sex couples. Ectogenesis has already had enemies, some people are against science interfering with the natural relationship between the child and the mother.

Zoltan Istvan urges all opponents not to look back at the past, but to think about the benefits that ectogenesis can bring. He believes that all the discoveries to create an artificial womb have already been made, and experiments can begin in the near future. However, the process has ethical and legal problems in the way, the resolution of which should wait at least 20 years. The futurist sets aside such a period for the first experiments on growing a human fetus in an artificial womb. Zoltan Istvan thinks that in 30 years ectogenesis will become a common phenomenon, like artificial insemination.

“I am confident that rationality will prevail,” says Istvan. - It is very convenient, and humanity always strives for comfort. The opponents don't have enough arguments. The abortion problem can be completely solved using an artificial womb. The woman goes for an abortion, but why destroy the fetus, it can be placed in the placental machine, and it will develop. Maybe the expectant mother will change her mind after a while, or maybe the childless family will take the child. Here's an example of several positive aspects of ectogenesis.

Difficult years of research

A typical pregnancy lasts 9 months or 280 days, but Rene Friedman, a French scientist in the field of in vitro fertilization, claims that after 160 days, the human embryo can develop on its own outside the womb. In order for development to occur normally, scientists are working to create an artificial placenta and amniotic fluid.

“After the embryo is conceived, it begins to develop in a special membrane, after 6-7 days it pierces it and is fixed inside the woman's uterus,” says Friedman. - With the same success, the embryo can develop in another womb. Of course, the presence of a womb is a prerequisite, without a womb it is impossible to imagine the development of an embryo. "

In the artificial insemination laboratory, which is located in Manhattan, about 10 thousand "test-tube" babies are raised annually. We can say that this is a real children's factory. Up to 28 children are born every day. All laboratory staff are of the opinion that a woman should be able to plan her life. She can freeze her egg and then decide when to become pregnant.

It is here that experiments take place that relate to the cultivation of placental animals outside the uterus. Dr. Liu was able to artificially raise a mouse in 2002, but the mouse was born crippled. The event caused a negative response from the public. Dr. Liu admitted that she overestimated the experiment from an ethical point of view, she realized that such experiments could seriously affect society. She stopped her work with human embryos, continuing to experiment only with mice.

At Kitasato University, which is located in Japan, scientists are engaged in the artificial cultivation of the goat. A few weeks before birth, the fetus is removed from the mother, and two probes are connected to it, then immersed in a liquid that resembles amniotic fluid in properties. Scientists can see how a still premature goat yawns, swallows and hiccups. Half an hour after the connection, the goat embryo begins to move. Scientists are now dealing with the issue of the correct supply of nutrients. If the flow is too high, then the embryo will hemorrhage, but if the flow is insufficient, then the embryo will begin to starve oxygen. The kids raised artificially, at first lived only one day, today their life expectancy is 20 days. It took 9 years of hard work to make this progress.

The real womb is a paradise for the fetus, in a real womb it can somersault and play with the umbilical cord, this has a beneficial effect on the development of motor skills in the future. While such comfortable conditions in an artificial womb are difficult to recreate. Scientists fear that a child raised artificially may suffer from epilepsy, autism or dementia. Today there are about 95 million women in the world who are expecting babies. Every second 5 children are born in the world.

Perhaps technically, but is it necessary?

After the domestic experts watched the film by Marie Mundy, they began to express their views on the topic reflected in the film. According to Natalia Kan, head of the obstetric department of the Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after VI Kulakova, an artificial womb, if it appears, it will be very soon. Mother and child are two very complex systems, there is a dependence between them. It is not only the transfer of oxygen, but also the nervous and immune relationships. The embryo not only develops inside the mother, but also transmits its signals to her, communicating its needs. In order to begin to understand such "communication", science will need at least another 50 years. It is possible to nurture embryos starting from 22 weeks (the World Health Organization considers an embryo at this age already a child), but their quality of life will not be "what we would like our children, and the outcome of nursing babies 22-24 weeks is not always favorable" ... About 70% of babies die, despite the use of the latest equipment. The most common cause of death is an immature nervous system. If the child still survives. He may have problems with vision, hearing, they grow up disabled.

In infants 24-26 weeks, the chance of survival is 86%, children are very small and weigh 500 grams. But you can also meet healthy children who have minimal brain dysfunctions, such children are more mobile. V. Zubkov, Head of the Department of Neonatology and Pediatrics, Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after V.I. VI Kulakov that such children should be classified as absolutely healthy. He agrees that an artificial uterus can be created, but you need to remember about the norms: moral, ethical, economic. According to him, such an innovation is difficult to assess from the point of view of necessity.

Two-faced Janus

Olga Isupova, senior researcher at the Institute of Demography at the Higher School of Economics, says that a woman's desire to give birth has decreased. The number of women without children is growing, before there were 7%, now it is almost 20%. Infertility is not the reason, modern life adversely affects reproductive desire. From this position, there is a need for an artificial uterus. There are many women wanting children but avoiding pregnancy.

Galina Muravnik, a geneticist and teacher of bioethics at the St. Philaret Orthodox Christian Institute, believes that every discovery is a two-faced Janus, it has both positive and negative sides. She worries that many scientists do not look back at ethics when making their discoveries. If an artificial womb can help premature babies survive or provide an opportunity for a childless woman to have a child, then these are advantages. But, if selfish women begin to simply use an artificial uterus so as not to drop out of the business process, then this is obvious harm.

Head of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Severin thinks that the stress experienced by the mother during pregnancy. Good for the fetus. This is how the unborn child adapts to the environment. He also believes that the appearance of an artificial womb should be expected no earlier than 50 years. Futurologist and biophysicist Igor Artyukhov is also leaning towards this figure.

Before. How to implement the project, you need to think, but how will society react to it? How will society treat such a child? How will the child perceive himself? There are still too many questions.

What will raising babies outside a woman's body lead to: expert opinion.

Soon, human embryos will be able to develop not in a female uterus, but in an artificial one - this process is called ectogenesis (from the Greek words "ecto" - outside, outside and "genesis" - origin, origin, birth). Then natural pregnancy becomes unnecessary. It is incredibly difficult, but, nevertheless, there are no biological barriers to this. Such claims are made in the film "Artificial Womb: The Incorporeal Birth" by the Belgian director Marie Mundy (now living in France).

Science and Life // Illustrations

Natalia Kan.

Victor Zubkov.

Olga Isupova.

Galina Muravnik.

Sergey Severin.

Presenter Anna Urmantseva.

Years of intense research

A normal pregnancy lasts 9 months or 40 weeks or 280 days. But, according to one of the pioneers of in vitro fertilization, the French doctor Rene Friedman, after 22 weeks or 160 days, future earthlings are able to develop on their own, outside the mother's body. To help them in this, work is underway today to create an artificial placenta and synthetic amniotic fluid.

“After conception, the embryo begins to grow in a special membrane, but after 6-7 days it pierces it and attaches itself to the woman's uterus,” says Rene Friedman. “However, he could just as well have developed in another womb. True, the presence of a womb - natural or artificial - is necessary: ​​without it there will be no development, the organs of a little man will not be able to form. "
A laboratory in Manhattan grows 10,000 test-tube babies a year. This is a whole factory of people. 27-28 children are born a day. Laboratory staff believe that a woman should plan her life. If she freezes her egg until a certain age, then she will be able to decide when to carry and give birth to a child.

Experiments on raising living beings outside the mother's womb are also being conducted here. For example, scientists create an artificial uterus, put a mouse embryo in there and watch how it develops. In 2002, Dr. Liu had already raised a mouse in this way. He was born alive but crippled. Then this event caused a wide public outcry, there were many opinions "for" and "against". After that, Dr. Liu, she said, overestimated the ethical side of these experiments. She realized that such experiments and their results could greatly change society. After that, she began to work only with mouse embryos, although she had previously conducted research on human embryos.

A goat is artificially raised at the Kitasato University of Japan. A few weeks before giving birth, he is removed from his mother, two probes are inserted into his body, and he is immersed in a special liquid. You can observe how the premature goat swallows, yawns and hiccups. After half an hour, he starts to move. One of the main tasks, according to the researchers, is to correctly calculate the magnitude of the flow of nutrients entering the body of the experimental creature. If the flow is large, hemorrhage occurs. If it is small, oxygen deficiency occurs. In the beginning, these kids lived only one day. Now it's 20 days. It took Dr. Unno and Kurobare 9 years of intense research to make this progress.

Play and tumble in paradise

Of course, a mother's womb is a baby's paradise. Here he feels good and comfortable, he can play with the umbilical cord and somersault, which in the future has a beneficial effect on his future motor skills. Many factors influence the development of the fetus. Is it possible to recreate them in an artificial womb - so far this question remains unanswered. There are fears that a child raised in this way may suffer from dementia, autism or epilepsy.

The authors of the film provide interesting statistics. Today there are 95 million pregnant women in the world. Every second 5 babies are born. That is, during the time that the viewer watched this film, 15 thousand children were born.

Technically possible, but not soon. Is it really necessary?

As a result of viewing the documentary picture, domestic experts were able to express their point of view on the issue raised in it. The creation of an artificial womb, which was mentioned in the film, if it happens, it will not happen soon, says Natalya Kan, head of the obstetric department of the Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology. V.I. Kulakov. After all, mother and child are two very complex systems that exist depending on each other. Between them there is not only the transfer of oxygen, hormones, nutrients - it is also a very complex immunological relationship, neural interactions. The fetus does not just grow inside the mother, he gives her his signals, telling her what he needs and how this need can be adjusted. In order to unravel this "language", it will take not 15 or 20 years, but at least 50. Yes, it is possible to nurse babies from 22 weeks (from this age, according to the criteria of the World Health Organization, it is no longer a fetus, but a child). But, as N. Kahn put it, "their quality of life is not what we would like for our children" and in general "the outcomes of nursing babies from 22 to 24 weeks are not very favorable." The mortality rate is very high - in the region of 70%, despite the fact that the most modern equipment and the latest technologies are used. The reason for this sad picture is the immaturity of the nervous system. Even if such children survive, they, as a rule, are visually impaired, hearing impaired, etc.
Babies aged 24-26 weeks have a much greater chance of survival: according to Viktor Zubkov, head of the department of neonatology and pediatrics at the Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after V.I. VI Kulakov, up to 86% of them remain alive. At the same time, the kids are very tiny - only 500 grams each. Among them, there are also almost completely healthy ones, for example, with minimal brain dysfunctions - they are less assiduous, more mobile. However, V. Zubkov believes that such children can be classified as absolutely healthy. As for the possibility of creating an artificial uterus, it is technically possible - a matter of time, but other aspects come to the fore here - moral, ethical, economic. It is difficult to say how much this innovation is necessary.

Double edged sword

Olga Isupova, senior researcher at the Institute of Demography at the Higher School of Economics, states the fact: the woman's reproductive desires have probably become smaller. In any case, the number of childless women is growing (if earlier there were 7% of them in our country, now it is 17-20%), and this is not even connected with infertility, but with a complex of reasons: modern life is not very conducive to to be distracted by the birth and upbringing of a child. In Germany, in some generations, up to 30% of women remain childless. Therefore, taking into account these facts, we can conclude that society has a need for an artificial uterus. After all, there are women who want to be mothers, but do not want to be pregnant, O. Isupova sums up.

Any scientific discovery is a two-faced Janus, a double-edged sword, which has both a positive and a negative side, believes Galina Muravnik, a geneticist, lecturer in bioethics at the St. Philaret Orthodox Christian Institute. It is alarming that many scientists, while developing their revolutionary technologies, do not think about their ethical side. If an artificial uterus will help deeply premature babies or, for example, women who are contraindicated in pregnancy for health reasons, it is a blessing. But if this degenerates into the fact that some women, due to their extreme selfishness, will shift childbirth to an artificial uterus in order to make a career, earn money, not "drop out" of business, go in for sports - that is completely different. Then the artificial womb will maintain and develop this egoism, and in this regard it is a very dangerous thing.
A child in the womb is likely to benefit from her stress, says Sergei Severin, head of the molecular biology department at the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This is a kind of training that allows you to adapt to adverse environmental conditions. It is practically impossible to create an artificial version of such interaction between mother and child - they are too complicated. Apparently, progress in this area is possible no earlier than in 40-50 years.

The biophysicist and futurologist Igor Artyukhov is leaning towards the same figure. However, on the way to the successful implementation of this technology, it is necessary to answer a number of questions: how the society will perceive this technology; how it will relate to the child born as a result of its application; how will this child perceive himself?

There are still too many questions. There are few answers so far. Humanity has thought ...


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… about the "artificial womb"

Carry children in an artificial womb!

In 1972, Oleg Belokurov patented the "detonating device". He named him "Bozena". As part of the Scientific Monday project of the Polytechnic Museum, RIA Novosti hosted a screening of the film The Artificial uterus: Birth without bodies by French director Marie Mundy, followed by a discussion in which experts in the field biology, sociology and medicine. Slon cites expert speeches in abridged form.

Natalya Kan, head of the obstetric department of the Kulakov Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology, Doctor of Medical Sciences
Science is advancing at such a pace that what seemed absolutely impossible 20-30 years ago is now becoming a reality in medical practice. Therefore, it is impossible to completely exclude the creation of an artificial womb. But this will not happen tomorrow or even in the near future.
Mother and child are not just two systems that can be connected and sustained by the introduction of some kind of nutrient. They are interdependent: the mother depends on the fetus, and the fetus on the mother. It is not just about providing oxygen, hormones, nutrients, but about very complex immunological, nerve connections. The fetus not only grows inside the mother, it gives her impulses, signals what he needs. Therefore, I think, to solve this is not even a matter of the next twenty years.
The question is not so much how to grow the fetus to a certain date, but so that this child can live a normal life in the future and be socially adapted. We have been caring for premature babies from 22 weeks, but their quality of life is by no means always high. Despite the use of the most modern technologies, the main problem is the immaturity of the nervous system. Since these babies are deeply premature, they can be disabled with visual impairments, hearing impairments and a number of other systems.

Viktor Zubkov, Head of the Department of Neonatology and Pediatrics, Kulakov Scientific Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology, Doctor of Medical Sciences
We do not use liquid ventilation of the lungs. These techniques do exist in military development, but they are not used in civilian practice. Today we take care of children from 24-25 weeks with a weight of 500 grams. The survival rate from the 24th week reaches 86%. Of course, their quality of life is different, there are neurological problems, and there may be a minimal developmental deficit. Let's say small brain dysfunctions - children are less assiduous, more mobile. But I believe that these are perfectly healthy children. If we take data on children with an initial weight of 500-700 grams, then the results are quite good.
Regarding the creation of an artificial uterus, the answer is simple - it is technically possible, a matter of time. But here other aspects come into force - moral, ethical, economic.
Do you need it? I am not ready to answer unequivocally. From the standpoint of science - yes, because there really are a lot of difficulties in nursing children. But how necessary is it at this stage? We use modern technologies such as in vitro fertilization, and it has already solved a number of health problems. Therefore, how much an artificial womb is needed today, I find it difficult to answer.

Olga Isupova, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Demography, Higher School of Economics
The fact is that the number of childless people is growing in our country. And this is connected not only with infertility, but with a complex of reasons.
Modern city life is not very conducive to the distraction of having a child and raising it, and many women today refuse this in principle.
So far, there are 17% of them, and this is a lot: earlier in Russia the figure was 7%. In other countries, such as Germany, up to 30% of women remain childless.
Therefore, we can say that some kind of social need to create an artificial womb exists, no matter how scary it sounds. Yes, indeed, there is a lot of frightening, unexpected, unusual here. There are women who really need to be mothers and give birth biologically themselves, but, apparently, modern life allows you to divide everything into parts, and the process of motherhood too. If we take artificial insemination, there is surrogacy and there is egg donation. And there are women who want children, and sometimes they find themselves in a situation where they can choose - turn to a surrogate mother or take a donor egg. Very rare, but it also happens. And they think about what they really need in motherhood.
Someone needs exactly bodily experience, that is, pregnancy, childbirth. Women take donor eggs five times more often than they use surrogacy. And here it is not only a question of price: for many it seems more natural - bearing, the experience of communicating with a child. For others, it is the genetic relationship that is important. Of course, most often this is due to the diagnosis, but when the doctor says - "you only get a donor egg" or "you only get a surrogate mother", many decide - then it is not necessary at all. There are women who want to have genetically their children, but they are not eager to be pregnant.

Galina Muravnik, geneticist, lecturer of bioethics at St. Philaret Orthodox Christian Institute
In 1972, a patent for an invention was obtained in our country. It was made by a Leningrad scientist from the Ott Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oleg Georgievich Belokurov.
The patent referred to the invention as a "detonator". He called him "Bozena", there were his initials - B.O. (Belokurov Oleg), and then - "wife", or woman. He frankly admitted that in this way he challenged God.
Belokurov created conditions as close as possible to natural ones: the embryo was in artificial waters, it had its own placenta, but the entire life support system was located outside the uterus. Therefore, the child breathed oxygen, which was supplied through the umbilical cord, metabolism proceeded through the umbilical cord, decay products were removed, and so on.
Moreover, Belokurov's development also had a certain political background: he relied on Marx's idea that in a communist society women would be free from the function of childbearing, that child-bearing factories and factories would appear. Moreover, he subtracted from Karl Kautsky the idea that the function of reproduction in a woman takes much more time and effort than in a man. And that this inequality must be eliminated. True, all this ended badly for Belokurov personally: in the eighties he was deprived of funding and fired, and at the age of 55 the scientist was paralyzed. In his later diaries, he wrote that he took this as punishment for rebellion against God.
The main question is, what is an artificial uterus for and whether it is needed at all, and not when it will be possible to create it. It is no secret that in the case of any scientific discovery, it all depends on whose hands it falls into. In the film, one of the participants says that at the beginning of the work she did not think about the ethical side; that's what worries. Still, a person should be like a chess player - to plan at least a few moves ahead. And any discovery must be evaluated from the moral point of view.
In my opinion, if we talk about an artificial uterus, then, of course, as a method of helping deeply premature babies, this is one thing. Or a pregnant woman finds herself in a situation incompatible with maintaining pregnancy, and it is necessary to somehow save the fetus. But if everything comes to the conclusion that some women, due to extreme selfishness, will postpone childbirth or shift it to an artificial uterus in order to make a career, not lose money, not go out of business, will be eliminated from the reproductive function, it seems to me that here we are laying a mine delayed action. Because, after all, the main purpose of a woman - and this cannot be done for her by any man, even the most wonderful - is to give life to another being. And if she leaves this, if she does not understand this, the artificial womb will develop and support this egoism even more. And this is a dangerous and unacceptable thing.

Sergey Severin, Head of the Department of Molecular Biology of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences
Now it is a very actively developing area of ​​science - the creation of artificial organs, regeneration, replacement of the affected areas of various organs.
But there is a much more difficult point here. You see, mother and fetus live in constant dialogue. This is a mutual exchange, mutual - this is very important. For a baby in the womb, even the stress of the mother is likely to benefit. He will adapt to not very favorable environmental conditions through this exchange with his mother. To create such a multifaceted version of the interaction between mother and fetus is unrealistic.
And one more moment scares me in all this. You see, this can lead to a loss of individuality.
Correction of genetic diseases is one thing, it is easier to carry out when the material is in front of you, and not in the womb. But this moves us towards eugenics at its core. You cannot create an ideal person.

Igor Artyukhov, biophysicist, futurologist
Everyone says that this will not happen in the next 10-15 years, but in 50 years it is possible. I agree with this assessment and would be surprised if an artificial uterus appears in 10-15 years, at least in relation to humans. On animals, it is likely. But I would also be surprised if the technology is not developed in the supposed 50 years, because there is a need for it.
There is a lot of talk here about the need for some kind of stress factors - I think these are technical problems, they can be solved. It is possible to create - not in the foreseeable future, but in some distant future - for a child an environment that will supply him with everything he needs: music, stress-induced hormones, and whatever. Perhaps even better than it happens in nature.
Another question is not even ethical, but psychological.
How will this child be perceived by society? How will he perceive himself? How will society generally accept the existence of such a technology?
We know that with the advent of new medical technologies, there is always a problem of rejection. When vaccination appeared, its opponents seriously said that from the vaccination, horns, hooves, and a tail would begin to grow in humans. Until now, there are religious sects that prohibit blood transfusions, parents go to ensure that the child dies, so long as he does not have this "godless procedure." Consider the protests against organ transplantation and in vitro fertilization. And then it turned out that it worked. And, for example, there are already millions of test-tube babies, and they show their viability no worse, and perhaps even better, due to the fact that deliberately defective embryos are discarded.
The discussed phenomenon, I would compare with a cesarean section. Because when the cesarean section was first used not in emergency cases, when the mother dies and the child needs to be saved, but at will, in order to get rid of the birth pangs, they said the same thing.
How is it that these selfish mothers do not want to endure pain, they will not have a connection with the child, because they will not go through the prescribed torment! And also practice has shown that they have an excellent connection with the child. Do you think that a man who did not carry a child and did not give birth to him in pain loves him less? This is not true. Here, by the way, we can rather talk about the influence of breastfeeding, and not childbirth or gestation. It is a well-known fact: when it was fashionable at one time to hire wet nurses, wet nurses began to love the child on an equal basis with their own. But the mother did not have such contact. In maternity hospitals, when the mother wants to abandon the child, they tell her: well, you feed, and then you will refuse. And often a woman, having fed, can no longer refuse.

Olga Isupova
As far as all ethical considerations go, they certainly matter. But the birth rate is falling all over the world. It is not falling, in my opinion, only in seven countries so far, but in general there is such a thing as a demographic transition: the birth rate everywhere is slowly beginning to fall. On average, the total fertility rate per woman is now 2.5 throughout the world. That is, about half of the countries have a birth rate below the level of simple reproduction of the population, and the process goes on. And this is not only Europe, it is, for example, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong. Japan, by the way, is a very interesting example. Now they are conducting experiments there in certain regions - they tell people: "You can give birth to a second child." And people no longer want to. Because when a person lives with a small number of children, he begins to understand: this is in some ways a much more pleasant and easy life.
You can talk about ethics as much as you like. Abortion can be banned, but the birth rate will still fall. In Poland, abortion is prohibited, and the birth rate is lower than ours. People will find a way if they don't want children. There are fewer and fewer reasons, both emotional and rational, to have children at all! People live very well without them. I have a large number of childless friends and girlfriends - they do not suffer at all, everything is fine with them. I would say that mothers are now much more frustrated than childless. Because they are increasingly under public pressure in raising a child, especially at a late stage, at school, and so on. But demographic trends are such that even migrants will sooner or later stop giving birth to so many children. The demographic transition is happening everywhere.

The development of mammals (including humans) in the womb is a long and complex process. Of course, it is familiar to us, and everyone knows what happens while the fetus is in the womb. For a long time, scientists have set themselves the goal of growing a fruit in artificial conditions. But this issue began to be actively investigated about two decades ago.

First experiments

A successful experiment to develop an artificial uterus was carried out by scientists in Philadelphia. Their method has already been tested and works quite well. In the laboratory of the Philadelphia scientists, there was not one fruit, but as many as eight - these are lambs, which continue to develop in artificial conditions. Their internal organs are constantly increasing in size. Lambs sometimes open their eyes, move, make swallowing movements - all that the fetus should do at a certain stage of its development. Scientists believe that in the future, an artificial uterus will become a ubiquitous way to safely carry premature babies.

The minimum period of intrauterine development, after which the fetus can be considered viable, is 20-22 weeks. In this case, the body weight should be about 400 g. Such babies are placed in an incubator, where the required level of temperature and humidity is maintained. Also, artificial respiration apparatus and expensive medicines are used in the incubator. However, even the most modern techniques cannot support an environment that could be comparable to that of the mother's womb.

The dream of scientists

The real uterus is a three-layer "bag" of muscle tissue. Bearing a fetus would be impossible without the coordinated work of its three layers - endometrium, myometrium and perimetry. Scientists have already studied the development process well enough: a fertilized egg is introduced into the inner layer of the uterus, the placenta is gradually formed, and fluid accumulates around the fetus. However, until now it has been impossible for researchers to reproduce all these conditions. The idea of ​​artificial bearing, like the idea of ​​a homunculus (a person created by the hands of other people), has been stirring up the minds of scientists for a long time. Advances such as the creation of an artificial womb pose many moral and ethical questions for humanity. However, progress cannot be stopped, and society will soon face these issues.

How does the device work?

Seen from the outside, it is most similar to vacuum packaging. In fact, it is nothing more and nothing less than a bio bag. Scientists called their development biobag, which in English means "biobag". On the other hand, an artificial uterus is a system that has the same elements as a real uterus. The solution inside it removes the accumulated harmful substances from the fetus. In fact, this solution is analogous to amniotic fluid or amniotic fluid. All nutrients, including oxygen, are received by the embryo through an artificial "umbilical cord". At the same time, gas exchange takes place here.

Scientists explain: the main problem due to which premature babies die is underdevelopment of the lungs. In the womb, the baby's lungs are filled with fluid. "Biobag" simulates this state. And also, unlike other methods, it protects the fetus from a pathogenic environment. The artificial uterus works without a pump.

Importance of the problem

An artificial uterus for premature babies could solve the global problem of premature birth. According to WHO statistics, about 15 million children die every year due to prematurity - and this is one in ten of all newborns. About a million of them die immediately, and those children who survived may suffer from various physiological or mental problems.

Experiment

The age of the lamb embryo, which was transplanted into an artificial womb by scientists, was equivalent to the 23-week term of a human embryo. Before the experiment was carried out by Philadelphia scientists, scientists from different countries of the world tried to conduct the experiment. However, the fetus died within a few hours. The problem was that the embryo needed a "bridge" between the womb and the artificial uterus.

Initially, the device was tested on lambs, which were about 120 days old. After the embryos spent four weeks in the "bio-bag", they were carefully examined. The researchers found no problems. It can be argued that sheep are at a much lower stage of development than humans. However, now a start has already been made, and a similar device for babies will soon be invented. Scientists say that by the time an artificial uterus is developed for humans, it will take only 1.5 minutes to "switch" the fetus from the mother's body to the artificial device. If all further experiments are successful, then in a few years the first human trials will begin. This development will help save more than one human life.

Animals that had been in the device for four weeks had to be euthanized for further study and evaluation of the success of the experiment. However, one lamb, to which the researcher developed an affection, survived, he was sent to the farm.

The future of scientific development

The fact that scientists have already created an artificial uterus for carrying embryos indicates significant progress in this area. These experiments are of tremendous importance for humanity. However, despite the fact that previous experiments were carried out quite successfully, this is not yet a 100% guarantee that such a device will be created for carrying human embryos.

If further experiments go well, premature babies after cesarean section will also be moved to the device. For four weeks, babies will spend time in conditions that are as close to natural as possible. Scientists also emphasize: this technology will be successful only for those children who were born after the 24th week of intrauterine development.

American scientists announced. This is not just a new way of nursing premature babies, but a revolutionary leap forward in reproductive technology, allowing for the possibility of having a baby in the future. For what purposes will humanity use the new opportunities? Helping childless couples, creating people with desired properties, or maybe getting donors for transplantation?

According to scientist Alan Flake from the Philadelphia Research Institute (USA), his team managed to create a device that mimics the work of the uterus, which can replace this organ in order to better nurture premature babies. Experiments have so far been carried out only on calves born earlier than expected, but the results are very encouraging.

This technology is not just an improvement on existing ones. Previously, caring for premature babies differed from that for those who were born after the prescribed nine months of normal pregnancy, only in purely "technical" details. The first needed a special temperature regime, achieved in "incubators", more reliable protection against possible infection, and because of the impossibility of breastfeeding, they received food through a tube. Nevertheless, premature babies still breathed with their lungs (although sometimes this process had to be supported with the help of special preparations replacing their still underdeveloped surfactant, a protein that prevents the collapse of the pulmonary alveoli), and their vital activity was carried out due to the food digested in the stomach and intestines , with the subsequent release of slags in a natural way.

In the uterus, all these processes are completely different. The unborn child drifts in the amniotic fluid, his lungs do not breathe, he receives oxygen and nutrients through the vessels of the umbilical cord, which, in turn, is attached to the placenta. The slags formed in the process of metabolism of the future person are also discharged there. In general, its vital activity is largely provided by the mother's body - her lungs, kidneys, and digestive tract.

Thus, the Americans had to solve several difficult problems at once - with the supply of the premature fetus with nutrients, oxygen, and the elimination of "waste materials" from it. In principle, separately, all these problems have been solved a long time ago at the modern level of development of medical science. There are artificial kidneys and parenteral nutrition, with the introduction of nutrients directly into the vein, bypassing the gastrointestinal tract, is also used in resuscitation practice. And artificial lungs (oxygenators) are also not so exotic.

Until now, the main stumbling block for the use of all these technologies in obstetric practice was the use of too coarse blood pumps in artificial lungs, which have a bad effect on the still very weak and delicate heart of a premature baby. Scientists from Philadelphia somehow solved this issue, however, without advertising the details. Perhaps by increasing the efficiency of work on gas exchange of the oxygenator membranes, which would allow pumping blood through them through the efforts of a child's heart.

One way or another, but judging by the information voiced by the inventors, they have created a full-fledged artificial uterus. Yes, Alan Flake says: “You can think of many different sensational scenarios about how you can use such techniques to grow a person from an embryo to a baby, or extend pregnancy beyond its usual framework. at the moment there is no technology, even in the long term, that would allow this. I would be very worried if someone tried to use our developments for such purposes. "

Of course, it is not entirely clear what exactly can interfere with the implementation of these most fantastic scenarios. In vitro fertilization (IVF) technologies already exist: within their framework, an egg fertilized by sperm, developing into an embryo, lives for several days in a nutrient solution. Then this embryo is implanted into the female uterus, where it switches to the feeding system of the expectant mother. But now there is already an artificial uterus. Yes, as long as the fetus was placed in it during relatively long periods of pregnancy. But does this mean that this technology will not work at the earliest possible date? Which will mean the possibility of growing completely artificial children. Except, of course, the source material: without a natural female ovum, scientists cannot do anything yet. Even if this egg contains the nucleus of an ordinary cell - as in cloning technologies.

Of course, like any new invention, the artificial womb can be used for the most noble purposes. Nursing premature babies, of whom 15 million are born annually in the world, of which a million die is one of them. By the way, according to statistics, up to 90% of even surviving deeply premature babies have serious health problems. Perhaps wearing out in conditions as close as possible to the mother's will help to cope with this problem.

And there is also termination of pregnancy at an earlier date - like miscarriages, "or even deadly for a woman" ectopic pregnancy. " no chance.

Completely artificial support for fetal development can also be useful - for example, for women who, for some reason, cannot have children. At the same time, the problem of disputes between surrogate mothers will be solved: to whom does the newborn child belong?

But the medal also has a downside. Children from a test tube can be produced not only in piece quantities, but also in series. Inspired by the script for the second episode of Star Wars, Attack of the Clones. The theme of "children from incubators" runs through almost every dystopia, especially if the society described there is maximally dehumanized, including by destroying the institution of the traditional family. Actually, the process of the latter is already taking place before our eyes at an accelerated pace - in the form of aggressive propaganda of unconventional sexuality. Already now "partner 1" and "partner 2" in gay marriages often want to have children - not adopted, but born from a surrogate mother. New technology will make it even easier for these families.

Finally, there are potentially huge opportunities for the black transplant market. Now organs for transplantation, in addition to legal routes, are bought from disadvantaged citizens, or even often they are simply taken from victims of crime and military conflicts, with subsequent death for the victim. Well, if a child is not just conceived in a test tube (now such embryos have no rights), will these rights appear if such a baby is born in a few months, again, with the help of artificial technologies, without being born a woman? Especially if all full-fledged citizens who want this birth will just be interested in it, not as a full-fledged person, but precisely as in a set of organs.

The prospects for the appearance of an artificial uterus are very different. But, on the other hand, this is the fate of all significant discoveries, the use of which for good or unworthy purposes depends not on the inventors, but on those who use this invention.