Researchers on the International Space Station have developed mouse embryos that have been shown to have grown naturally, suggesting humans could reproduce in space, Japanese scientists say.
The researchers, including Professor Teruhiko Wakayama at Yamanashi University's Center for Advanced Biotechnology and a team from Japan's JAXA space agency, sent frozen mouse embryos with a rocket to the International Space Station in August 2021.
Astronauts at the station dissolved the embryos using a specially designed device and implanted them at the station for 4 days.
The scientists noted that "embryos that grew in microgravity conditions naturally evolved into blastocysts."
The researchers pointed out in a study published on the website of the scientific journal "iScience" on Saturday, October 28, 2023, that the experiment "clearly proved that gravity does not have a significant effect" on the issue of mice breeding.
They pointed out that there were no major changes in the state of DNA and genes, after analyzing blastocysts - cells that develop into a fetus and placenta - that were returned to laboratories on Earth.
Yamanashi University and the National Research Institute confirmed in a joint statement Saturday that the study is the first research work to show that mammals may be able to reproduce in space. "This is the world's first experiment to develop early-stage mammalian embryos in microgravity on the International Space Station."
"In the future, on the International Space Station, it will be necessary to grow blastocysts in microgravity in mice to see if these animals are capable of giving birth to young" in order to make sure the blastocysts are normal.
This research is of great importance for future space missions.
As part of the Artemis program, NASA plans to send humans back to the moon to learn how to live there in the long term, and prepare for a trip to Mars in the late thirties.