Scientists have taken stem cells from amniotic fluid and successfully grown mini-organs.
The stem cells were extracted during late-stage and active pregnancies.
The tiny organoid structures can be used to test new medical treatments or study how the real organ equivalents function, when both healthy and not.
Paolo de Coppi, a professor of paediatric surgery at University College London, said: 'Those cells are very important because in that little organoid is contained all the functions of the epithelium, so of the inner layer of that organ.
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'So we can replicate all those functions in a Petri dish which is important for both development and also understanding the disease for example of the foetus.'
The method involved analysing amniotic fluid from 12 pregnant women during routine diagnostic testing.
While most cells in the fluid were inactive, a fractional amount turned out to be stem cells responsible for developing the baby's lungs, kidneys, and intestines.
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By culturing these stem cells into droplets of gel, the researchers found they could grow them into 3D organoids, no longer than a millimetre wide.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Until now, mini-organs have previously been derived from adult stem cells or foetal tissue after an abortion.
With the legal limit for pregnancy termination in the UK set at 24 weeks, there is a narrow time window to collect foetal samples.
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Interestingly, the study sheds light on the cause and progression of foetal organoid malformations, a condition that affects 3-6% of babies worldwide, opening up new areas in prenatal medicine.
Stem cell researcher at UCL, Dr. Mattia Gerli, said foetal organoids would allow scientists to study how foetuses develop in the mother's womb 'in both health and disease.'
The researchers were then able to compare organoids before and after treatment of CDH, which is a condition that affects the diaphragm and lung development.
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'This is the first time that we’ve been able to make a functional assessment of a child’s congenital condition before birth,' said De Coppi.
Roger Sturmey, professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Hull, sees the research's potential in revealing 'early origins of adult disease' by studying 'what happens when the cells of key tissues within foetuses malfunction'.