Nature: In the early stages of vertebrate embryos, endocysts devour to quickly remove defective cells

FEBRUARY 15, 2021 /--- In a new study, researchers from research institutions such as the Institute of Science and Technology in Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Pompe fabla revealed that newly formed embryos remove dying cells to maximize their chances of survival.
is the earliest manifestation of an innational immune response found so far in vertebrates.
findings may help future efforts to understand why some embryos fail to form in the early stages of development and lead to new clinical efforts to treat infertility or early miscarriage.
results were published online February 10, 2021 in the journal Nature under the title "Cooperative epithelial phagocytosis enables error correction in the early embryo".
photo from Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain.
embryos are fragile in the first few hours after they are formed.
rapid cell division and environmental pressure make it prone to cell errors, which in turn lead to sporadic death of embryonic stem cells.
is considered one of the main causes of pre-implantation embryo development failure.
organisms can use immune cells specifically designed to perform this function to remove cell errors, but newly formed embryos cannot produce these specialized cells.
to see if embryos can remove dying cells before the immune system forms, the researchers used high-resolution delay imaging to monitor zebrafish and mouse embryos.
as two mature scientific models, zebrafish and mice are often used to study vertebrate development.
they found that the supersethic cells, --- together, form the first tissue on the embryo's surface--- which can identify, ingest and destroy defective cells.
this is the first time that this biological process, called epithelial phagocytosis, has been shown to remove defective cells from newly formed vertebrate embryos.
First author of the paper and co-author of the paper, Dr. Esteban Hoijman, said, "One of the first tasks that developing embryos do long before organs are formed is to produce a protective tissue.
, according to Dr Hoijman, engulfing the endocysts is a surprisingly efficient process due to arm-like protrusions on the surface of the endocyst cells.
he added, "These cells work together mechanically; just as people distribute food at the table before meals, we find that endocal cells push defective cells to other endocular cells, speeding up the removal of dying cells." Dr Verena Ruprecht, co-author of the
paper, said: "In this paper, we propose a new evolutionaryly conservative function where the endocysts act as efficient scavengers for dying cells in the early stages of vertebrate embryos.
our study may have important clinical applications because it may one day improve screening methods and embryo quality assessment criteria used in fertility clinics.
, according to the researchers, embryos exhibit an immune response earlier than previously thought, a finding that provides a basis for further exploration of the role of mechanical cooperation as a physiological tissue function.
the role of mechanical cooperation remains unknown in other important biological processes, such as steady state and tissue inflammation.
(Bioon.com) Reference: 1.Esteban Hoijman et al. Cooperative epithelial phagocytosis enables error correction in the early embryo. Nature, 2021, doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03200-3.2.Earliest signs of an immune response found in developing embryos