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The Artificial Womb Moves Forward
Researchers successfully nurture extremely preterm lamb fetuses outside a natural womb
If you live for about 80 years, your nine months in the womb will represent less than 1% of your time on Earth. But those nine months represent a crucial period for growth and development.
Sometimes, though, babies are born before they get those nine full months in utero. And while the accepted protocol is to place premature infants in an artificial incubator — protecting the baby from infection and maintaining temperature and humidity — soon there may be better options.
Researchers at the University of Western Australia and Tohoku University Hospital are testing artificial wombs: plastic bags filled with synthetic amniotic fluid and connections for placenta-based life support. The team recently revealed in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that they have successfully sustained premature lamb fetuses using their artificial wombs.
“We have proven the use of this technology to support, for the first time, extremely preterm lambs… in a stable, growth-normal state for five days,” said senior author Matthew Kemp in a statement from Tohoku University Hospital.
