A team of researchers from Barcelona, Spain, has created an artificial placenta for extremely premature babies. The prototype has already been tested on animals. He recently managed to survive a sheep fetus for 12 days.
The project is an initiative BCnatal, the global reference center for fetal and neonatal medicine, with the participation of the Sant Juan de Deu Barcelona Hospital and the Clínic Barcelona Hospital. His artificial placenta recreates a protective environment for the fetus. She is armed translucent container made of biocompatible materialin which the lungs, intestines, and brain can continue to develop.
This container is connected to the amniotic fluid circulation system. This allows the fetus to remain isolated from external stimuli. But it is designed in such a way that it can be accessed to perform ultrasonic checks and other monitoring activities.
The prototype also has extracorporeal circulation system. It consists of an oxygenating membrane and other parts specifically designed to facilitate blood circulation and oxygenation. All this mimics what happens naturally through the mother’s placenta and umbilical cord.
The operation is also supported by medical support protocols that include the administration of nutrition, hormones, and other medications. They consider possible clinical scenarios and how clinicians should act to reverse them.
The second phase of the artificial placenta begins
A group of experts from five countries has already evaluated and approved the project. Now begins the second phase, which will take place over the next three years. Fund “la Caixa” invests others 4.3 million euros, which is added to the 3.35 million that the first stage cost.
“For families of extremely premature babies, a moment that should be a moment of maximum happiness turns into a journey full of uncertainty and suffering,” commented Anthony Vila Bertrand, CEO of the La Caixa Foundation, in a press release. This development will be “a solution that will help save lives and reduce the severe developmental consequences that some of these newborns have.”
One of the objectives of this new phase is increase the survival time from the current 12 days to over 3 weeks. The team hopes to reach this milestone in 2024. To do this, they are looking for technological improvements in some devices, such as cannulas or oxygenating membranes.
Researchers also have yet to develop the protocols required for the transition to neonatal life. In other words: what will be the process of the birth of the fetus, from the artificial placenta to extrauterine life.
Pioneer project in the world
Now a team of scientists wants to experiment with the fetuses of larger animals, such as pigs, to demonstrate the possibility of transferring the system to other species. In addition, long-term effects on the brain, heart, lungs, and metabolic development need to be assessed.
Embryonic life continues to be one of the most risky phases for humans, emphasizes BCnatal. One of the main problems is connected precisely with extreme prematurity: a birth for up to six months of pregnancy. This situation reaches 25,000 families every year in Europe. The survival rate of very premature babies ranges from 75% to 25%. Many surviving children have consequences.
Apart from the BCNatal project, there are only four other groups that have developed experimental models of artificial placentas with significant advances in recent years. Two of them are based in Philadelphia and Michigan, USA; another outcome of a consortium between centers in Australia and Japan, and another initiative in Toronto, Canada.
Source: Hiper Textual
