PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Toxicity testing on the placenta and embryo

Toxicity testing on the placenta and embryo
2021-07-21
(Press-News.org) Drugs must be safe not just for the patients; in the case of pregnant patients, drugs must also be safe for the unborn children still in the womb. Therefore, at an early stage in the development of new medicines, candidate substances are tested in the Petri dish on embryonic stem cells from mouse cell lines. This is to avoid that an embryo-damaging effect would only be noticed at a later stage during tests with pregnant mice.

However, these cell culture tests are a highly simplified version of what takes place in the uterus. Researchers just add the test material to a culture of embryonic stem cells in a Petri dish, and can identify substances that have a direct adverse effect on embryonic cells. By contrast, in the body of a pregnant woman, active pharmaceutical ingredients may be modified by the mother's metabolism and enter the embryo's bloodstream via the placenta. Moreover, standard cell culture tests can't detect substances that have indirect effects on the embryo, for example, in that they interfere with the functioning of the placenta or generate stress responses.

A chip with different cell types

Researchers in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel have now devised a laboratory test that incorporates the role of the placenta into embryotoxicity assessments. To do so, Julia Boos, a doctoral student in the group of ETH Professor Andreas Hierlemann, and her colleagues developed a new chip. This chip contains several compartments, all interconnected by miniature channels. On this chip, the scientists combined human placental cells taken from cell lines with microtissue spheroids derived from mouse embryonic stem cell lines, known as "embryoid bodies", which reflect the early development of the embryo. Test substances first encounter a layer of placental cells, which they have to pass before reaching the embryonic cells, thereby reproducing the situation in utero.

Incidentally, these experiments do not produce viable embryos. The embryonic cells from cell lines only undergo the very first steps of embryonal development over a period of ten days.

Test detects indirect damage

To demonstrate the functioning of the new test, the researchers used microparticles that did not harm the embryoid bodies if they came into direct contact. With the new test, which also includes placental cells, however, the scientists observed a potential indirect adverse effect. Although the placental cells managed to hold the microparticles back, meaning the particles did not get through to the embryonic cells, the placental cells showed a detectable stress response.

Now the researchers would like to further develop their system with regard to more suitable plastic materials. It is also conceivable to use human stem cell lines, instead of mouse cells, to form embryoid bodies in the future. "There are significant differences between lab animals and humans, particularly in terms of embryonic development and the processes taking place in the placenta," Boos says, continuing: "Of all the organs, the placenta is where differences between the species are most pronounced."

The group aims at creating a new test that is also easy to use for the pharmaceutical industry. Being able to detect - and eliminate - substances that are harmful to the embryo at an early stage of drug development means that fewer substances will subsequently be tested on animals in in-vivo studies.

INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Toxicity testing on the placenta and embryo

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New scoring system for assessing wound healing

New scoring system for assessing wound healing
2021-07-21
New Rochelle, NY, July 21, 2021-- Evaluating the efficacy of novel therapies requires the ability to monitor wound progression accurately and reproducibly over time. Researchers have proposed a new scoring system for wound healing in mice based on parameters in each phase of healing, as described in an article in the peer-reviewed journal Stem Cells and Development. Click here to read the article for free through August 21, 2021. The parameters include re-epithelization, epithelial thickness index, keratinization, granulation tissue thickness, remodeling, and the scar elevation index. The parameters can be assessed using either Hematoxylin & Eosin or ...

Study innovates in gluten-free formulations, creating more palatable and nutritious bread

Study innovates in gluten-free formulations, creating more palatable and nutritious bread
2021-07-21
By José Tadeu Arantes | Agência FAPESP – Gluten is a protein complex found in cereals such as wheat, rye and barley. It is responsible for the elastic texture of dough so that loaves and rolls can be baked into different shapes while remaining flexible and crusty. It also lengthens the shelf life of bread at room temperature, when associated with preservatives. Gluten intolerance, however, has become a global epidemic, and gluten-free products are increasingly popular. The problem is that most of those available on the market are far from corresponding to consumers’ expectations in terms of appearance, aroma, flavor and durability. A research line focusing on ways to enhance gluten-free products is being pursued ...

Thumb-sized device quickly 'sniffs out' bad breath

2021-07-21
No one wants bad breath -- not when visiting friends and family, at a job interview, and especially not on a first date. Smelly breath can make things awkward, but it also is a natural warning sign, indicating that serious dental issues are occurring. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have constructed a portable, thumb-sized device that diagnoses bad breath by quickly "sniffing" exhalations for the gas that makes it stinky -- hydrogen sulfide. Because most people can't smell their own breath, they need to ask someone else, which can be embarrassing and awkward. Some devices measure small amounts of stinky hydrogen sulfide, but they require exhaled air to be collected and tested on expensive instruments in a lab, which is not feasible ...

Toward one drug to treat all coronaviruses

2021-07-21
Safe and effective vaccines offer hope for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the possible emergence of vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as novel coronaviruses, make finding treatments that work against all coronaviruses as important as ever. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research have analyzed viral proteins across 27 coronavirus species and thousands of samples from COVID-19 patients, identifying highly conserved sequences that could make the best drug targets. Drugs often bind inside "pockets" on proteins that hold the drug snugly, causing it to interfere with the protein's function. Scientists can identify potential drug-binding pockets from the 3D structures of viral proteins. ...

Rounding errors could make certain stopwatches pick wrong race winners

Rounding errors could make certain stopwatches pick wrong race winners
2021-07-21
WASHINGTON, July 21, 2021 -- As the Summer Olympics draw near, the world will shift its focus to photo finishes and races determined by mere fractions of a second. Obtaining such split-second measurements relies on faultlessly rounding a raw time recorded by a stopwatch or electronic timing system to a submitted time. Researchers at the University of Surrey found certain stopwatches commit rounding errors when converting raw times to final submitted times. In American Journal of Physics, by AIP Publishing, David Faux and Janet Godolphin outline a series of computer simulations based on procedures for converting raw race times for display. Faux was inspired when he encountered ...

Nanostructures enable record high-harmonic generation

2021-07-21
ITHACA, N.Y. - Cornell researchers have developed nanostructures that enable record-breaking conversion of laser pulses into high-harmonic generation, paving the way for new scientific tools for high-resolution imaging and studying physical processes that occur at the scale of an attosecond - one quintillionth of a second. High-harmonic generation has long been used to merge photons from a pulsing laser into one, ultrashort photon with much higher energy, producing extreme ultraviolet light and X-rays used for a variety of scientific purposes. Traditionally, gases have been used as sources of harmonics, but a research team led by Gennady Shvets, professor of applied and engineering physics ...

Researchers reverse emphysema in mice by injecting blood vessel wall cells

Researchers reverse emphysema in mice by injecting blood vessel wall cells
2021-07-21
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian in New York have discovered that injecting mice with pulmonary endothelial cells--the cells that line the walls of blood vessels in the lung--can reverse the symptoms of emphysema. The study, which will be published July 21 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), may lead to new treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung disease associated with smoking that is thought to be the third leading cause of death worldwide. Emphysema is one of the characteristic features ...

Real-time stress detection devices could help fight alcohol relapses

Real-time stress detection devices could help fight alcohol relapses
2021-07-21
Wearable devices can detect people's stress, according to new Washington State University research, opening potential new interventions for people with addictions. In a paper published today, July 21, in the END ...

Who eats the invaders?

Who eats the invaders?
2021-07-21
A landmark scientific study involving marine biologists from Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Libya, Italy, Tunisia, the UK, the US and even Malta, documenting instances where native Mediterranean species have preyed upon two highly invasive marine fish - the Pacific red lionfish and the silver-cheeked toadfish - has just been published. Prof. Alan Deidun, coordinator of the Spot the Alien Fish citizen science campaign and resident academic within the Department of Geosciences of the Faculty of Science, is a co-author of such an extensive study. The Pacific red lionfish (Pterois miles) and the silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus) are amongst the most invasive of non-indigenous fish species to enter the Mediterranean in recent years, posing both ecological and socio-economic hazards. ...

SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.617 gives the immune system a hard time

2021-07-21
SARS-CoV-2 still poses major challenges to mankind. The frequent emergence of mutant forms makes the threat posed by the virus difficult to predict. The SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.617 circulated in India and gave rise to the Delta variant, B.1.617.2, which is now becoming dominant in many countries. Infection researchers from the German Primate Center (DPZ) - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen have investigated the B.1.617 variant in detail. In cell culture studies, they found that this variant can infect certain lung and intestinal cell lines more efficiently than the original ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New generation of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) shows unprecedented promise in early-stage disease

Sylvester Cancer Tip Sheet for October 2025

Three science and technology leaders elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

Jump Trading CSO Kevin Bowers elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

Former Inscripta CEO Sri Kosaraju elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

Citadel’s Jordan Chetty elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

McGill research flags Montreal snow dump, inactive landfills as major methane polluters

A lightweight and rapid bidirectional search algorithm

Eighty-five years of big tree history available in one place for the first time

MIT invents human brain model with six major cell types to enable personalized disease research, drug discovery

Health and economic air quality co-benefits of stringent climate policies

How immune cells deliver their deadly cargo

How the brain becomes a better listener: How focus enhances sound processing

Processed fats found in margarines unlikely to affect heart health

Scientists discover how leukemia cells evade treatment

Sandra Shi MD, MPH, named 2025 STAT Wunderkind

Treating liver disease with microscopic nanoparticles

Chemicals might be hitching a ride on nanoplastics to enter your skin

Pregnant patients with preexisting high cholesterol may have elevated CV risk

UC stroke experts discuss current and future use of AI tools in research and treatment

The Southern Ocean’s low-salinity water locked away CO2 for decades, but...

OHSU researchers develop functional eggs from human skin cells

Most users cannot identify AI bias, even in training data

Hurricane outages: Analysis details the where, and who, of increased future power cuts

Craters on surface of melanoma cells found to serve as sites for tumor killing

Research Spotlight: Mapping overlooked challenges in stroke recovery

Geographic and temporal patterns of screening for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer in the US

Cannabis laws and opioid use among commercially insured patients with cancer diagnoses

Research Spotlight: Surprising gene mutation in brain’s immune cells linked to increased Alzheimer’s risk

Missing molecule may explain Down syndrome

[Press-News.org] Toxicity testing on the placenta and embryo