Figure 1.

Stem Cell-Derived Embryo Models Recapitulate Mammalian Embryonic Development

(A) Illustration of the key stages of mammalian embryogenesis, showing the progression of embryonic development of the conceptus inside a reproductive tract in vivo.

(B) Schematic of embryo-like structures generated from pluripotent stem cells in vitro, which can recapitulate the key events of the post-implantation process. These embryo-like structures include the blastoids (modeling the blastocyst stage), Post-implantation Amniotic Sac Embryoid (PASE) and ESC- and TSC-derived (ETS) embryo-like structures (modeling amniotic cavity formation and specification of mesoderm and endodermal layer), and gastruloids (modeling gastrulation and lineage specification with the formation of structures resembling somites and neural tube and early organogenesis). The bottom arrows represent a simplified version of the starting material that is mixed with PSCs to generate the embryo-like structures in a dish (see also Table 1).