abstract |
Triploid zygotes arise in ∼5% of in vitro fertilisations, but the excess set of haploidnchromosomes means that they cannot develop into human beings, and so such zygotes are notnused during fertility treatment. The invention provides a method for preparing embryonic stemncells, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a tripronucleated zygote; (b) removing one of thenpronuclei to provide a diploid heteroparental zygote; (c) culturing the diploid zygote to producena blastocyst; (d) obtaining one or more cells from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst; and (e)nculturing the cells obtained from the inner cell mass to obtain embryonic stem cells. The stemncells may be differentiated into cell types of interest. |