Time-course characterization of in vivo guinea pig preimplantation growth. Credit score: Nature Cell Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41556-025-01642-9
Learning the early growth of human embryos is difficult resulting from moral constraints and technical difficulties. Due to this fact, animal fashions are sometimes used to grasp the organic processes that govern embryo growth earlier than it implants within the uterus.
In a brand new research, researchers at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with Université de Montréal, have investigated how guinea pigs can serve as a substitute mannequin for finding out this essential interval. The research exhibits that guinea pig embryos share many vital traits with human embryos, which may open up new analysis alternatives in fertility and stem cell biology.
The findings are revealed in Nature Cell Biology.
Similarities with people
By analyzing guinea pig embryos utilizing superior single-cell RNA sequencing, the researchers mapped gene expression patterns throughout embryo growth. The outcomes present that the preimplantation growth of guinea pigs, i.e., the time earlier than the embryo attaches to the uterine wall, is surprisingly much like that of people.
Additionally they recognized that embryo attachment resembles that of people and seems to be regulated by retinoic acids and probably an vital nuclear receptor NR2F2. That is promising as a result of, with this mannequin, we will enhance our understanding of why implantation failure usually happens in people and doubtlessly develop therapies to stop this.
“Guinea pig embryos undergo a developmental process that largely mirrors that of humans, both in terms of the timing of cell specialization and the genes that control these changes,” says Sophie Petropoulos, a researcher on the Division of Medical Science, Intervention and Expertise at Karolinska Institutet and one of many research’s lead authors.
The researchers recognized a number of conserved pathways, together with the Hippo, MEK-ERK, and JAK-STAT techniques, which management the differentiation of embryonic cells in each guinea pigs and people. Moreover, analyses confirmed that key genes for the event of the embryo’s first cell layers are expressed equally in each species.
A brand new mannequin for embryo analysis
In contrast to different widespread laboratory animals, reminiscent of mice, guinea pigs have a preimplantation growth that’s extra similar to that of people when it comes to timing and the molecular circuitries that govern blastocyst formation. Moreover, each guinea pigs and people endure a kind of implantation the place the embryo penetrates the uterine lining, which differs from mice and different rodents.
One other vital facet is that guinea pigs have a placental construction much like that of people. This enables researchers to make use of guinea pigs to analyze how early environmental modifications, reminiscent of publicity to varied chemical substances or medication, can have an effect on embryo growth and future well being.
“Guinea pigs can become a valuable model for understanding how early disturbances in embryonic development can affect health later in life. Since guinea pig development mirrors that of humans better than many other animal models, we can gain more reliable insights into how the embryo’s environment affects its future,” says Petropoulos.
The researchers hope that this new data can contribute to raised strategies in assisted replica and an elevated understanding of development-related ailments. With the guinea pig as a mannequin, future analysis may also present vital details about stem cell biology and regenerative medication.
Extra data:
Jesica Romina Canizo et al, The guinea pig serves as a substitute mannequin to check human preimplantation growth. Nature Cell Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41556-025-01642-9. www.nature.com/articles/s41556-025-01642-9
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