A tiny reproductive system in a dish.
April 4, 2017 5:50 PM Subscribe
If there is "no animal model" then why did the guy bother to mention mouse cells? Meh.
posted by mollymillions at 9:43 PM on April 4, 2017
posted by mollymillions at 9:43 PM on April 4, 2017
This is cool work!
If there is "no animal model" then why did the guy bother to mention mouse cells? Meh.
Well, I'm recalling my undergraduate reproductive physiology class for this, but as I recall, one of the interesting things about the female mammalian reproductive system is just how much variability there is between species. The basic tissues, organization, hormones, etc. are pretty well conserved, of course, but there's an awful lot of details that matter quite a bit, particularly in the structure/function of the uterus, endometrium, and cervix, which have been under strong selection in different species for the particular evolutionary demands of the reproductive strategies in different mammalian taxa. Humans, as I recall, are particularly unusual among mammals in the extent to which the endometrium needs to integrate with the placenta in the event of pregnancy. (Essentially, the human fetus is much more effective than most other mammals at attacking the uterine lining to integrate its blood supply with that of the endometrium, and this fact has important implications for the structure/function of the uterus throughout a woman's lifetime.) So when it comes to understanding the physiology of the female human reproductive system at a systems level that is sensitive to these specializations, there are unlikely to be many great animal models.
As is often the case in biology, the notion of "animal model" depends on the nature and scale of the question you're asking. If you want to understand the cellular-level processes involved in the female reproductive system, my (somewhat naive) guess is that mouse models are great. But when it comes to things like endometriosis and other systems-level disorders, these phenomena may be rather specific to the human reproductive system, and so animal models provide little useful information. However, for developing technologies like what they're describe here to essentially explant living tissue and place it in a model reproductive system where they can study its function, my guess is mouse models are invaluable for learning how to make the technique work effectively, even if the mouse tissues themselves won't be able to teach us about, say, endometriosis or other disorders of the reproductive system.
posted by biogeo at 10:41 PM on April 4, 2017
If there is "no animal model" then why did the guy bother to mention mouse cells? Meh.
Well, I'm recalling my undergraduate reproductive physiology class for this, but as I recall, one of the interesting things about the female mammalian reproductive system is just how much variability there is between species. The basic tissues, organization, hormones, etc. are pretty well conserved, of course, but there's an awful lot of details that matter quite a bit, particularly in the structure/function of the uterus, endometrium, and cervix, which have been under strong selection in different species for the particular evolutionary demands of the reproductive strategies in different mammalian taxa. Humans, as I recall, are particularly unusual among mammals in the extent to which the endometrium needs to integrate with the placenta in the event of pregnancy. (Essentially, the human fetus is much more effective than most other mammals at attacking the uterine lining to integrate its blood supply with that of the endometrium, and this fact has important implications for the structure/function of the uterus throughout a woman's lifetime.) So when it comes to understanding the physiology of the female human reproductive system at a systems level that is sensitive to these specializations, there are unlikely to be many great animal models.
As is often the case in biology, the notion of "animal model" depends on the nature and scale of the question you're asking. If you want to understand the cellular-level processes involved in the female reproductive system, my (somewhat naive) guess is that mouse models are great. But when it comes to things like endometriosis and other systems-level disorders, these phenomena may be rather specific to the human reproductive system, and so animal models provide little useful information. However, for developing technologies like what they're describe here to essentially explant living tissue and place it in a model reproductive system where they can study its function, my guess is mouse models are invaluable for learning how to make the technique work effectively, even if the mouse tissues themselves won't be able to teach us about, say, endometriosis or other disorders of the reproductive system.
posted by biogeo at 10:41 PM on April 4, 2017
If there is "no animal model" then why did the guy bother to mention mouse cells? Meh.
That's a good question! Biogeo gave a great explanation. The researchers used mouse cells - mouse oocytes - because both mouse and human oocytes produce the same chemicals, estrogen and progesterone. They also used mouse oocytes because it is very rare to receive healthy human oocytes. Generally, healthy human oocytes and ovarian tissue is removed only in cases where the patient's fertility could be jeopardized. The majority of this tissue is preserved for use of the patient.
Other tissues are not so similar. For example, mice have uterine horns - their uterus looks like a "V" - and people have a more pear-shaped uterus. Some hormone receptors also function differently in mice. This means that even though mouse oocytes produce the same hormones humans do, their reproductive tract actually responds differently.
So basically, the mouse oocytes were mentioned because they are capable of mimicking an important function of human oocytes, but other mouse tissue isn't quite so similar!
I hope that helps answer your question? I'm always glad to clear things up if anything is confusing!
posted by Creatine at 12:33 AM on April 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
That's a good question! Biogeo gave a great explanation. The researchers used mouse cells - mouse oocytes - because both mouse and human oocytes produce the same chemicals, estrogen and progesterone. They also used mouse oocytes because it is very rare to receive healthy human oocytes. Generally, healthy human oocytes and ovarian tissue is removed only in cases where the patient's fertility could be jeopardized. The majority of this tissue is preserved for use of the patient.
Other tissues are not so similar. For example, mice have uterine horns - their uterus looks like a "V" - and people have a more pear-shaped uterus. Some hormone receptors also function differently in mice. This means that even though mouse oocytes produce the same hormones humans do, their reproductive tract actually responds differently.
So basically, the mouse oocytes were mentioned because they are capable of mimicking an important function of human oocytes, but other mouse tissue isn't quite so similar!
I hope that helps answer your question? I'm always glad to clear things up if anything is confusing!
posted by Creatine at 12:33 AM on April 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
I should also add: the other organs in the system were all human tissue explants or primary cell lines derived from human tissues.
posted by Creatine at 12:35 AM on April 5, 2017
posted by Creatine at 12:35 AM on April 5, 2017
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posted by Creatine at 6:48 PM on April 4, 2017 [2 favorites]