Recent Advances in Developing Artificial Uteruses -- Guest Article

Recent Advances in Developing Artificial Uteruses

by Kathy Wilson

One of the biggest miracles we see every day is the ability to create human life – the conception and birth of a baby is a wondrous happening that the human brain will never be able to completely replicate artificially. Even so, great strides have been made in boosting fertility and aiding conception through advances in the medical field, the artificial uterus being one such pioneering effort. We’ve all heard of assisted reproductive techniques like artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization and even other more complicated procedures like ICSI and GIFT. But an artificial uterus is a relatively unheard of concept, one that is only just gaining steam.

It’s only a prototype now, but a working one that shows promise and possibility. Scientists and researchers at the Cornell University's Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility have succeeded in taking cells from the endometrium, the lining of the womb, and growing them in a lab using hormones and other growth factors. Tests have already been run using fetuses not used in IVF procedures, and they have shown that they’re able to attach themselves to the lining of the artificial womb. Further trials will prove the viability of this concept, but for now, the researchers are limited by IVF regulations.

Ethical aspects raise their ugly head and threaten to prevent progress in this field; on the one hand, you have abortion issues – while women are permitted to undergo an abortion legally now because the fetus is within their bodies, when they’re outside and growing in an artificial womb, will abortion amount to murder? Also, artificial wombs when combined with cloning technology are conceptually capable of allowing reproduction without involving the female factor. How far will people go to exploit this if it becomes a reality?

Artificial uteruses benefit women in more ways than just helping those with damaged and faulty uteruses conceive and take home children of their own genes – they aid professional women by allowing them to continue working without having to take time off for the pregnancy, and they are deemed to be safer environments because they are not affected by any adverse reactions (like stress and side-effects caused by drugs and alcohol) in the mother’s body.

But then, what happens to the concept of motherhood as we know it? Is the bonding of mother and child not important at all in the larger scheme of things? Artificial uteruses are ok for women who cannot conceive because they have no uteruses or damaged ones; but for the rest who are looking for a “convenient” pregnancy, ethical questions must be raised and answered before they’re allowed to do as they please.

By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Kathy Wilson, who writes on the topic of x ray technician school programs . She welcomes your comments at her email id: kathywilson1983@gmail.com

Utah Woman to Rent Half of Duplex Uterus

What is... uterus didelphys?

In a female fetus, the uterus starts out as two small tubes. As the fetus develops, the tubes normally join to create one larger, hollow organ - the uterus. Sometimes, however, the tubes don't join completely. Instead, each one develops into a separate cavity. This condition is called uterus didelphys or double uterus. Double uterus is rare - and sometimes not even diagnosed. According to one estimate, uterine abnormalities occur in as many as 4 percent of women who have normal pregnancies, and of these women, about 5 percent have a double uterus. -Mayo Clinic

In the US mountain west state of Utah, lives a 36 year old woman who was born with a duplex uterus, or uterus didelphys. Since both her left and her right uteri are perfectly functional, she is able to conceive children in several ways: In just the left or just the right uterus, or in both uteri at once.

She is happily married, and until now has devoted both of her uteri to bearing children to just her husband. But as the Obama Depression deepens, she has decided to rent out half her uterus to earn extra cash for the family.

"It's either that, or we have to move out of our beautiful Provo home," she said. How does her husband feel about her decision? "Well, he's not really thrilled about it," she says, "but we can use the money."

When questioned, the woman admitted that indeed she is currently pregnant in both uteri. She confessed that only one of the children is her husband's. Which one?

"Well, my husband is really conservative, so I've reserved my right uterus to him. The left uterus is going to be the money-maker."

How does she control which uterus will bear which man's child? "Okay, well, if I want to get the right uterus pregnant, I just lie on my right side for a half hour after intercourse with my husband. If I want to get the left one pregnant...er, I just make sure I'm already pregnant with my husband's baby in my right uterus first -- and then, I also lie on my left side for about 8 hours after intercourse."

Here is an excerpt from a news release about this unusual situation:

A Utah woman is pregnant with two babies. It wouldn't be that unusual, except that these babies aren't twins. Hard to believe?....[Not for the mother. She planned it that way.]

[The woman's] first ultrasound revealed something shocking to...her doctor.

"[The mother] and I both had the look of surprise," said [the woman's doctor], with [Provo] OB/GYN in [Provo]. [The mother was actually faking her surprise.]

What they saw were two separate babies at slightly different stages of development.

"[My doctor said] I'm five weeks and four days in one, and six weeks and one day in the other," [the woman] said.

She knew she was born with the rare condition called didelphys, meaning two uteruses. It was never an issue in her other pregnancies, but this time she conceived in both....

...[the woman] had to break the news to her husband....Though just 20 weeks along now, the babies are already creating a buzz for the family..."As far as setting up bleachers and selling tickets, we are not anticipating that, though," [the doctor] said. _KSL.com_via_Impactlab

Half of the woman's OB expenses are being paid by the anonymous sperm donour, but she will receive an extremely generous payment when the delivered infant is handed over to the biological father and his family.

"I know that a lot of people frown on this kind of thing, but I figure that I was given this gift, so I may as well make the most of it. I mean, someday we will have artificial uteruses, and people will pay to have their babies incubated in them. What I am doing is not so different from that."

Author's note: The story you have read is only partly true. The names of the real people in the story have been obscured, and the photograph has been changed so as not to misrepresent actual individuals. The story as written here has very little to do with them. That is why it is labeled "plagiaristic satire." Someday Al Fin may get in big trouble for letting me publish this kind of story here.

Surrogate Mothers vs. Artificial Wombs

Yonatan Gher and his partner, who are Israeli, plan eventually to tell their child about being made in India, in the womb of a stranger, with the egg of a Mumbai housewife they picked from an Internet lineup.__NYT__via_Impactlab

Outsourcing child-bearing and child-birth to India? Yes, of course. In India a surrogacy will cost roughtly US $25,000, while in the US it would cost over $75,000. The Indian surrogate mothers will likely practise healthier lifestyles--better food, less likelihood of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs in the system etc.--than their American counterparts.

Under guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research, surrogate mothers sign away their rights to any children. A surrogate’s name is not even on the birth certificate.

This eases the process of taking the baby out of the country. But for many, like Lisa Switzer, 40, a medical technician from San Antonio whose twins are being carried by a surrogate mother from the Rotunda clinic, the overwhelming attraction is the price. “Doctors, lawyers, accountants, they can afford it, but the rest of us — the teachers, the nurses, the secretaries — we can’t,” she said. “Unless we go to India.” __NYT

Until we actually have a viable artificial womb option, we will not be able to compare the advantages and disadvantages of surrogacy vs. artificial wombs. Artificial wombs within the western country would free the parents from the need to travel to India to collect the child, and would simplify the legality of the parental situation. The cost of providing artificial gestation and monitoring may easily make up for those savings, however.

Certainly the demographic shrinking of Europe, Japan, and other western nations points to the need for some form of child-bearing that relieves educated and liberated career women from the chore. A chore that more women are clearly choosing to do without.

Take Cloning, Add Artificial Wombs -- Pretty Soon You've Got Yourself A Brave New World

Considering recent breakthroughs in cloning technology (via JWBats), ongoing research in artificial organs, and ongoing research into ectogenesis--one can easily project a future where embryos are created via cloning or IVF, and implanted into artificial wombs for full gestation until delivery.

Human sperm can be made from mesenchymal tissue, should sperm cell counts continue to drop. Parthenogenic fertilisation of human eggs is another possiblity. The creation of chimeric embryos is an even more potentially radical step toward a new world. With nuclear transfer techniques, what would you get by combining the de-nucleated egg of a chimp with the nucleus of a human skin cell?

There is a lot more in the pipeline than those items. But let's go back to simple IVF combined with a reliable artificial womb. Would there be a demand, and would it be an ethical procedure? My projecto-meter answers yes to both questions. In the western world, particularly, modern women want to have it all. Career, family, children, school-girl figure. One problem is time. Another is biological wear and tear. The artificial womb answers both problems, and others besides.

The ethics have to do more with understanding the things that make us truly human, and the things we only believe make us human. That question is ongoing, but I have my opinions.

What about cloning combined with the artificial womb? That is a very fascinating combination that could lead to a truly startling future. Particularly when you throw hybrids and radical germline engineering into the picture.

But that will have to wait for a future time.

Interesting PopSci article on artificial wombs

A series in Slate by William Saletan

Early stage microfluidic artificial wombs

Underpopulation: Are Women "Baby-Making Machines?"

“The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of child-bearing machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head.”Pink Tentacle

A computer geek can get away with saying such things. Politicians from Japan and other advanced nations must watch their words, because politics and the media can easily combine to create perfectly destructive political storms.

But it is certainly true that humans are biological machines. And biological machines must reproduce to maintain their populations, given their limited lifespans. Since women in Japan, Italy, Russia, Spain, and other nations are not reproducing to replacement level (2.1 children per mating pair), the population of such countries is dropping "quickly." All the reactionary feminist fury in the world cannot stand up to the biological reality.

So what are advanced nations to do, if they do not wish to let their populations dwindle to ineffectual levels? A depopulated country in the first world is an open invitation to one form of outside invasion or another. For while many nations of the first world are "underpopulating " themselves, not all are doing so. And the nations of the third world are producing enough offspring for everyone. The world population is still increasing--due to third world birth rates.

Is this what Spaniards, Italians, Japanese, etc. really want? To be replaced by third-worlders? Is the only difference between first worlders and third worlders their country of residence?

Portable Cell Cultures to Portable Embryo Incubator to Portable Artificial Womb

A recent story about the grandmother in Brasil who gave birth to her own twin grandchildren suggests that there would be a strong demand for an artificial womb, should such a thing ever be perfected. This grandmother was apparently happy to perform this vital service for her daughter. After all, she was able to walk away from the primary responsibilities of childraising when she left the hospital. But how would the dynamics of the same situation have changed in the context of safe and efficacious artificial wombs?

You may remember the microfluidic chip developed by Teruo Fujii of the University of Tokyo, designed to nourish an embryo in its early stages of development before final transplantation into a human womb. And the recent microfluidic cell culture incubator developed at Johns Hopkins is an impressive development along the same lines.

In a recent edition of the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, the Johns Hopkins researchers reported that they had successfully used the micro-incubator to culture baby hamster kidney cells over a three-day period. They said their system represents a significant advance over traditional incubation equipment that has been used in biology labs for the past 100 years.

...In contrast, the thumb-size system developed by the Johns Hopkins engineers is self-contained and requires no external heating source. A drop of liquid containing living cells is injected into a port and flows through one of the microfluidic channels. A nutrient solution — the cells’ food – is also added in this manner.

The cells gravitate toward and stick to the surface of the microchip. The chip contains a simple heating unit – a miniature version of the type found in a common toaster – and is equipped with a sensor that continually checks to make sure the proper temperature is maintained. For human cells, this is usually 37 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The chip is connected to a computer that controls the sensing and heating process. The prototype is connected to a computer via a hard wire, but the inventors say a wireless version would be the next step.

A gas-permeable membrane on the incubator allows the microsystem to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen but keeps out bacteria that could contaminate the cell culture. If a cell colony grows too large, an enzyme can be injected into one of the microfluidic ports to detach and flush away surplus cells without destroying the primary cell culture.

Source

Quite clever indeed. From such microfluidic culture devices, it is not such a stretch to imagine a staged device with graduated chambers (or a single expandable chamber) that accepts an IVF embryo at one end, and nine months later delivers a fully developed neonate out the other.

Bioethicists will no doubt agonize over the concept from now until the next millenium, but the fact is there is a demand for such devices. Where there is a demand, human ingenuity will usually created a supply.

A previous Al Fin article discussed two of the most famous would-be developers of artificial wombs, scientists Kuwabara in Tokyo, and Liu at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility. Other researchers are working in the background, developing the necessary techniques, devices, and software that would allow a single cell to develop into a fully developed neonate in vitro.

One step at a time, largely unnoticed by the public. That is how most science advances.

Mass Producing Babies--Toward an Artificial Womb

There is a strong need for reliable artificial wombs in the developed world. Women are as deeply immersed in work and careers as men--not to mention just as vain about their appearance as men. They do not wish to sacrifice the time, and the wear and tear, that pregnancy and childbirth entails.

Teruo Fujii of the University of Tokyo in Japan and his colleagues are building a microfluidic chip to nurture the first stages of pregnancy. They hope, eventually, to create a fully automated artificial uterus in which egg and sperm are fed in at one end and an early embryo comes out the other, ready for implanting in a real mother. They say using such a device could improve the success rate of IVF.

.... Fujii’s team has created a “lab on a chip” that is 2 millimetres across and 0.5 millimetres high, in which up to 20 eggs can be fertilised and then grown until they are ready for implantation. Endometrial cells, which line real wombs, are also grown in the device, so that the chemicals they produce can reach the embryos and help them grow.

“We are providing the embryos with a much more comfortable environment, mimicking what happens in the body,” Fujii says.

Experiments in mice suggest that the chip is more successful than traditional IVF at producing embryos that will grow into healthy fetuses. Of 50 fertilised eggs grown on the chip, 30 developed into early embryos, compared to 26 out of 50 fertilised eggs grown through “microdrop” IVF. Here a drop of mineral oil is used to cover the fertilised egg and a small volume of culture fluid to stop the egg drying out. In a separate experiment, Fujii’s team implanted embryos grown on the chip into mice and found that 44 per cent of them developed into healthy fetuses, compared to 40 per cent of those grown in microdrops. “It’s not just about more embryos surviving to be implanted, they also seem to be doing better once they are implanted,” says Wheeler.

....For now the sperm and eggs are still prepared for fertilisation manually but the researchers are working towards automating those steps too. Wheeler’s team has already automated them, but has not compared his chip-grown embryos with ones produced by conventional IVF, nor grown endometrial cells on a chip. He suggests that combining his approach with Fujii’s might produce even better results.

The chip could also be used for growing genetically modified animals, stem cells and cloned embryos, he adds.

Source

For now, these chip-conceived embryos will be implanted into a living female host. Eventually, living wombs outside the bodies of females will receive the embryo implants. Further on, completely artificial wombs designed and grown for this purpose would act as recipients of embryos, and incubators for the developing fetus.

When the fertilisation process is automated, and the subsequent pregnancy takes place entirely in an artificial womb, pregnancy will be within the reach of anyone who possesses both sperm and egg--or anyone who can afford to buy them.

Sperm is successfully frozen and used years later. Egg freezing will eventually reach the same degree of reliability. Certainly embryos themselves can be frozen for years before being implanted. The entire process of fertilisation, pregnancy, and childbirth are being revolutionised before our eyes.

On Mothers Day: To Mother, or not to Mother--That is the Question

Like most of the western world, Canada is facing a serious decline of motherhood. There are many reasons for this problem

How did it come to this? In Canada, one answer is infertility. This affects one in every 15 Canadian couples (in Britain one in six are affected), who spend some $30 million a year on in-vitro fertilization alone. Defined as failure to conceive after one year of trying, infertility can result from many factors affecting both males and females, but according to the government of Canada's Biobasics website, the two biggest factors are delayed childbearing and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Today, mothers giving birth average 29.5 years of age. Since women are born with a given number of eggs that decline in quality and quantity from the age of 30, it is no surprise that for the growing proportion of 30-plus women attempting pregnancy, it is much more difficult to conceive and carry a child.

Compounding the problem, earlier and increased sexual activity means a greater likelihood for contracting gonorrhea or chlamydia. In women, pelvic inflammatory disease and, in turn, blocked fallopian tubes or ectopic pregnancy may result. In men, sterility is possible. According to healthyontario.com, rates of STD infection are up 60 per cent since 1997, with girls between the ages of 15 and 19 incurring the highest rates. In 2003, 20,000 new cases of chlamydia were reported in Canada.

Source

The decline of motherhood suggests a future decline in working taxpayers to support Canada's massive system of social programs. Because Canada has a reasonably healthy economy, compared to most of the world, immigrants will arrive to try to take advantage of the opportunities Canada offers. Canada will receive both economic opportunity immigrants and welfare-seeking immigrants.

Unfortunately, of the nations with the highest birthrates providing the most potential immigrants, the average population IQ is significantly below the Canadian average.


If the IQ of the immigrants is low, they may start as economic opportunity immigrants, and regrettably transform into welfare-seeking immigrants. Dysgenic immigration is the last thing a welfare state like Canada needs--just as it is the last thing the European welfare states need.

France is in a similar downward spiral. Although France has elected a hard-working and intelligent new President, it is still in doubt whether France has the will to do what must be done to reverse its decline.

Delayed childbirth combined with early sexuality, leads to infertility. The only long-term solution--given the dominant culture of western countries--is the artificial womb.

Internet Sperm, Internet Eggs, Internet Sperm and Eggs?

For many years, a woman wanting to be a parent could buy human sperm on the internet. More recently, human eggs were offered for sale on the internet. But now, eager parents-to-be can mix and match sperm and eggs, and order designer embryos. With viable embryos, even women past menopause can receive hormone treatments, and get their uteri in shape for another pregnancy.

For now, though, the biggest market is for sperm. Single mothers and lesbian mothers are particularly interested in buying the highest quality of sperm for their progeny.

After her divorce, Melissa went looking for a guy who could be a good father to the children she always hoped for. When pickings proved slim, she started searching instead for the perfect donor. "I was 39," says Melissa, who chose not to reveal her last name. "I was running out of time."

His codename was "Finn," and for $1,250 payable to the Scandinavian Cryobank office in New York City, Melissa walked away with 5 vials of his sperm. After shelling out another $15,000 for hormone drugs, doctor consultations and her in vitro fertilization process, Melissa is now the proud mother of 13-month-old twin boys.

Melissa's twins are just two of the estimated 30,000 babies born each year from donated sperm. Melissa herself is among the growing ranks of single moms and lesbian couples that now make up around half of the market for gamete donation, which, until the 1980s and 1990s, had been available almost exclusively to married, heterosexual couples.

Throw in an array of new reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization and the advent of the Internet, where soon-to-be moms can go "shopping" for donors, and you get a whole new kind of baby boom. Today, the U.S. fertility industry is worth some $3.3 billion.

Source

Until women learn to make their own sperm, they will need to buy it or otherwise convince a male to hand over the goods. But successful women can afford to buy the best, and with carefully screened sperm, there are no strings attached. Single and divorced males who wish to have children must seek out surrogate mothers--which is often a very chancy proposition. Normal contract law does not always carry the day, when a change of heart occurs.

Of course, when artificial wombs are perfected, the whole reproductive game will change. Until then, single and gay women will have the advantage over single and gay men, in procreation.

Uterus Transplants?

A recent CNN article about womb transplants brings up a few interesting issues.

Approximately 1,800 heart-beating, but brain-dead, organ donors were identified through an existing donor network. The removal of several organs took place in about 150 of the donors. Nine had specifically consented to donate their uterus.

The uterus was removed without complications in eight donors. Tissue testing suggested that the organs were, in fact, suitable for transplantation.

The researchers point out that the transplant of organs that are not needed to preserve life raises ethical issues. Thus far, the only human uterine transplant that has been performed was "controversial and unsuccessful."

Nevertheless, they note that surgical techniques have improved and the successful retrieval of a usable human uterus brings the possibility of such transplants closer.

"Our hope," the team concludes, "is to eventually restore reproductive function through transplantation of a human uterus."

First of all, uterine transplants would require the administration of anti-rejection drugs, like all other transplants. Is it really wise to encourage women on anti-rejection drugs to become pregnant--no matter how badly they wish to have children?

Second, if you are going to harvest uteri for transplant, why not go to a larger source of living donors, rather than limited cadavers? Why not harvest the uteri of nuns and other healthy young women who have made a rational choice to forego childbirth? Assuming it is possible to handle rejection issues without drugs that may be dangerous to the fetus.

Third, why not learn to maintain the uterus and fetus ex corpore (out of body), and avoid the rejection issue altogether? There is a significant need for artificial wombs for gestating fetuses ex corpore, and what better to use than a living human uterus artificially maintained?

It is important for researchers to develop good means for long term "cold storage" of organs of all types. Vitrification and other preservation methods would help considerably with problems of organ transport to point of need. For donated uteri, workable vitrification would allow children to be born from a uterus long after the original donor had died.

It seems that both the researchers and the journalists reporting the story are thinking much too small, too short term. The genuine possibilities for expanding reproductive choice are much larger.

Oh, Brave New Womb

Scientists have been on the trail of the artificial uterus for decades. Since Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, science fiction writers have used the device (scroll) frequently. So, we have test-tube babies now, in vitro fertilisation, but no artificial wombs.

It is not for lack of trying. Hung Ching Liu, a fertilisation specialist, has been working on the problem for years, and making genuine progress.

In 2002, Liu stunned the world of reproductive medicine by claiming to have recreated a woman's womb, using uterine cells grown on a biodegradable scaffold bathed in a broth of hormones and nutrients.

When Liu placed fertilised human embryos created during IVF treatment inside, they nestled into the wall of the womb and began to attach themselves to the endometrial cells that make up the lining — just as in the early stages of pregnancy. Liu stopped the experiments after a week because regulations prevent human embryos being developed much further.

No such restrictions apply to animals and, in unpublished work, Liu says she has now grown mouse foetuses in her artificial womb for 17 of their 21—day terms. This is equivalent to about 31 weeks in humans, at which point babies have been viable for more than a month and can routinely be nurtured to normal development if born prematurely.

Just as with the human embryos, the tiny bundles of mouse cells nestled into the artificial womb lining and began to attach themselves. Liu watched as blood vessels formed, then miniature placentas and, eventually, the amniotic sac — an embryo's personal protective bubble.

A different approach has been taken by Yoshinori Kuwabara at Juntendo University in Tokyo. His team has removed foetuses from goats and placed them in clear plastic tanks filled with amniotic fluid stabilised at body temperature. In this way, Kuwabara has kept goat foetuses alive and growing for up to 10 days by connecting their umbilical cords to machines that pump in nutrients and dispose of waste.

While Liu's work is aimed at helping those having difficulty conceiving, Kuwabara's is designed to help women who suffer miscarriages or very premature births. In this way Liu is extending the time an embryo can exist in a laboratory before being placed in a woman's body; Kuwabara is trying to give a foetus a safe home if expelled too early from its natural womb.

Crucially, both believe artificial wombs capable of sustaining a child for nine months will become reality in a few years.

This Slate article looks at artificial wombs as a way of incubating embryonic tissue for use in regenerative medicine, not as a way to create a new person. There must be many uses for working artificial wombs, if you think about it.

Ethicists have lined up on every conceivable side of the issue. Some feminists see the development as an emancipation of women, and some see it as a threat to the existence of all women. Choose your sides. Some religious fundamentalists see artificial wombs as the end of abortion, and some see them as a threat to the idea of "human essence." Like a rorschach blot test, the artificial womb concept has a way of causing people to define themselves in unexpected ways.

Embryos have implanted inside the abdominal cavities of women, on the outer surface of viscera, and developed to a surprising degree. Here is a report of a successful abdominal pregnancy and delivery. This suggests that an artificial womb constructed of living tissue, well perfused with nutrient and oxygenating fluid, should do just as well as this woman's abdominal organs, and create much less risk for the mother. The problem of providing an in utero like environment should be solvable.

It will happen, sooner or later, ethics or no ethics, laws or no laws. What we choose to make of the possibilities created by the artificial womb is up to us.

Far into the future, I foresee an artificial womb in every home, where the proud parents-to-be can keep close track of thousands of parameters in the developing fetus. The A.W. could even be fitted with a 2-way communications (cell phone with remote antenna for radiation safety) device and high fidelity speakers so that the fetus can listen to Mozart, a soothing heartbeat, or even the mother's voice from half a world away, if need be.