[앵커]
Premature babies have to be placed in an incubator as soon as they are born because their organs are not fully developed.
Unlike an incubator, the ‘artificial womb’, which provides an environment similar to that in the mother’s womb by connecting the premature baby to the umbilical cord, is showing good results in animal testing.
Clinical trials on humans are also approaching.
This is reporter Choi So-ra.
[기자]
In a plastic bag full of clear liquid, a small pink sheep lies as if sleeping.
In human terms, this is a premature baby born after 23 weeks of pregnancy.
After spending a month in a plastic bag, the lamb grew full of fluff and its lungs and brain developed.
An artificial womb has been developed that returns animals born without reaching their full term to the environment before birth.
The principle is to provide necessary substances through the umbilical cord so that the undeveloped lungs can breathe on their own and do not put strain on the fragile heart and blood vessels.
The U.S. research team that developed the artificial womb has applied for clinical trials on human babies, and the U.S. FDA is expected to soon decide whether to authorize the clinical trials.
A Spanish research team also developed an artificial uterus and succeeded in raising a prematurely born sheep for 12 days.
The goal is to conduct experiments on pigs in the future and begin clinical trials within 2 to 3 years.
[에두아드 그라타코스 / 스페인 바르셀로나대 교수 : 의학과 공학의 전문 기술이 필요한 고도의 정교한 프로젝트입니다. 인공 자궁이 제대로 작동하려면 자연이 속아 넘어갈 정도의 정교함이 필요합니다.]
In addition, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and the Netherlands are also developing artificial womb technology.
All are aimed at premature babies over 22 weeks of gestation.
Those born earlier than this are considered to have a low chance of survival even in an artificial womb, because the hormones and nutrients necessary for organ development have not been completely identified.
However, for babies older than 22 weeks, artificial womb treatment is expected to increase the chances of survival and dramatically lower the risk of disability compared to incubator treatment.
This is Choi So-ra from YTN Science.
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2023-09-23 17:17:00
