On June 10, 2021 , another blockbuster news appeared in domestic biological research. A research report titled rat male symbiont pregnancy model was published on the life science preview platform, and the author is a researcher at the Naval Medical University. Although this paper has not yet been peer-reviewed and has not been officially published, it has been reported by the media.
html On June 19, the keyword about male rat pregnancy quickly appeared on Weibo. This hot search triggered widespread discussion among people across the country. Some netizens joked: "Male pregnancy is just around the corner." , although it is used in biology. Although it is a major research discovery, this article has caused considerable controversy in terms of feasibility and bioethics.
The vigorous development of my country's aviation, chemical industry, bioscience and other fields has brought great convenience to our lives. In addition to the material satisfaction of life, the convenience of science and technology has also brought spiritual enrichment. Although the rapid development of science and technology seems to be an excellent thing, these fields of science and technology are also plagued by moral and ethical controversies.
biology is also one of the most controversial areas, ranging from suspicions that the use of genetically modified foods will cause infertility to the ethical issues of cloning human . Biology is advancing hard amid discussions about ethics and morals, and this paper on male mouse pregnancy was also controversial in the controversy.
So, what exactly is this experiment ? Is male pregnancy feasible? Why is it so controversial? What is the significance of the experiment?
Specifically, the researcher of this paper adopted the four steps of . First, the researchers performed surgery to connect the back-to-back of male rats and female rats that had been castrated (removing the reproductive system of animals by external means or making them lose sexual functions is called castration) to form conjoined rats, so that the two The mice can share blood . Through the exchange of blood, the female mice provide a female microenvironment for the castrated male mice.
Six weeks after the operation, the estrogen level of in the castrated male mice had reached a level similar to that of the female mice. . Eight weeks after the operation, researchers unilaterally transplanted a healthy female mouse. The uterus was transplanted to the castrated male in conjoined mice. At this step, the researchers have successfully constructed a pregnant mouse model in the male mouse.
Next, after waiting for the wound of the male mouse to heal, the researchers extracted embryos from the third female mouse, and then transplanted the embryos at the blastocyst stage into the transplanted uterus and the transplanted uterus of the male mouse. In the female rat’s native uterus. Three weeks after the embryo transplantation, the researchers performed caesarean section on the "pregnant" male mice in the symbiont , and obtained offspring mice.
According to the paper, there were 6 pairs of conjoined rats in this experiment, 562 embryos were transplanted into the uterus of the female rat, and 80 were transplanted into the uterus of the male rat. In the end, 169 embryos developed normally in the uterus of the female mouse, while only 27 embryos developed normally in the male mouse.. By comparison, it can be found that the probability of normal growth of embryos in female mice is about 30%, while that of male mice is only 9%. The final results of
showed that 280 normal embryos transplanted into the uterus of male mice gave birth to 10 pups, with a delivery success rate of 3.68%.
Unlike domestic media reports that male pregnancy is just around the corner, the results of this study bring a pessimistic conclusion to male pregnancy. Although a real uterus is installed in the body, and a similar estrogen environment is cultivated in the body of male mice, the chance of successful reproduction of embryos is still far lower than the chance of natural reproduction of in female mice. Zhang Rongjia, one of the researchers, said: "If the results of the experiment are correct, it will almost be a death sentence for male pregnancy."
After this study became a hot search, the debate has not stopped. The biggest problem is whether using this technology directly on the human body is contrary to the laws of nature. In addition, male childbirth also has a fierce conflict with the traditional idea of female pregnancy.
Secondly, in this experiment, the researchers not only castrated the male rats, but also sacrificed three female rats to supply blood, uterus, and eggs. It is also unacceptable to conduct biological experiments on animals without mercy. . On July 1, , under the pressure of public opinion, the author of the paper submitted a retraction application to the academic exchange platform. canceled the retraction application a few days later. It is enough to see the entanglement of the paper researchers. The group supported by
believes that the purpose of scientific research is only to promote the development of science and technology, and the views of ethics should not be substituted into the process of scientific experiments.
In addition, the possibility of this experiment being transformed into the human body is not high. We should look at the problem rationally and not criticize it from a social point of view. After all, this research still has a certain value.
Opponents believe that moral constraints and scientific development supervise each other, and scientific research requires ethical and moral norms.
The author also supports the latter view. Here I quote the views of Professor of the School of Philosophy of Renmin University of China Liu Yongmou . He pointed out in an article in " China Science Journal " that the "onlookers" of netizens are indispensable for the development of science and technology and scientific research, "moral restraint often relies on public opinion" . He believes that the strength of scientists lies in knowledge rather than ethics, so scientific and technological ethics review needs to introduce people from outside the scientific community. It is for this reason that the scientific ethics review system was set up, which is to use social values to judge whether scientific research actions are A system that violates ethical principles. "
Although there is great controversy about male pregnancy, scientists have not stopped researching on alternative pregnancy.
From artificial uterus to male pregnancy, the endless variety of issues and surrogacy methods are eye-popping. Maybe someone will I wonder why we spend so much time researching various pregnancy methods. In fact, the ultimate goal is to reduce the physical damage caused by women’s pregnancy.
From pregnancy to delivery, women will experience prenatal edema, frequent urination, Painful torture, severe pain during childbirth may cause lower body tears, and the inability to control excretion. Postpartum breastfeeding is also a huge social, cultural and physical challenge, and there is also a psychological risk of postpartum depression.
is also correct It is this kind of pain that gave birth to the illegal surrogacy industry, causing some poor women who had no choice to embark on the road of no return becoming other people's reproductive machines. It also caused some uneducated women to do so without knowing the cost of pregnancy. Give up your own health and regret it for life.
This is why these alternative pregnancy technologies have been developing rapidly. Alleviating human suffering and saving human lives - this is the ultimate issue of scientific and technological development.
Reference:
[1] Wang Xueying. Reflection on "Male Rat Pregnancy" from the perspective of scientific ethics [N]. Beijing Science and Technology News, 2021-07-19(020).DOI:10.28030/n.cnki.nbjkj.2021.000152.
[2] Yan Ayong. Xiao Research on intracytoplasmic sperm injection in mice[D].China Agricultural University, 2004.
[3] Xie Yiyang, Xu Xiangde. Influencing factors of typhoon sub-weather system and disturbance propagation paths[J]. Meteorology, 1993 (12):9-12+8.
[4] Establishment of a rat model of pregnancy in the male parabiont Life science preprint platform bioRxiv
Author: Xiaoguo proofreading editor: Xiaowan
