'The embryo has an amazing ability to correct itself:' Mothers may have been killing perfectly healthy babies

'I know how lucky I was and how happy I felt when Simon was born healthy.'

For years pregnant mothers were tested and told their unborn children contained abnormal cells, indicating a higher possibility of developmental disorders such as Down's syndrome.

Many of these mothers choose to abort for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately for these mothers, a new study revealed several fetal murders may have resulted in the deaths of entirely healthy babies.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz was pregnant over the age of 40 and discovered as many as 25 percent of the placenta cells were abnormal. When she spoke to geneticists for more information, she was surprised to learn very little was available.

Though it was risky, Zernicka-Goetz continued with her pregnancy and later delivered an entirely healthy son, Simon. His healthy birth led Zernicka-Goetz to pursue a study concerning abnormal cells and healthy births.

"I know how lucky I was and how happy I felt when Simon was born healthy," she stated. "Many expectant mothers have to make a difficult choice about their pregnancy based on a test whose results we don't fully understand. What does it mean if a quarter of the cells from the placenta carry a genetic abnormality - how likely is it that the child will have cells with this abnormality, too?

"This is the question we wanted to answer. Given that the average age at which women have their children is rising, this is a question that will become increasingly important. In fact, abnormal cells with numerical and/or structural anomalies of chromosomes have been observed in as many as 80-90% of human early stage embryos..."

In a study led by Zernicka-Goetz, published in journal Nature Communications, researchers discovered high numbers of early-stage mouse embryos were abnormal, but the embryo was still able to entirely repair itself as the abnormal cells self-destructed and were replaced by healthy cells.

Even in instances of 75 percent early-stage cell abnormalities, the ratio of normal cells increased as the embryo developed.

"The embryo has an amazing ability to correct itself," Zernicka-Goetz explained, adding, "We found that even when half of the cells in the early stage embryo are abnormal, the embryo can fully repair itself. If this is the case in humans, too, it will mean that even when early indications suggest a child might have a birth defect because there are some, but importantly not all abnormal cells in its embryonic body, this isn't necessarily the case."

Thierry Voet, fellow senior author in the study, explained older mothers who have had in vitro fertilization see an increased frequency of abnormal cells in their unborn children, but the babies have an opportunity to fully recover before birth.

Though the study was conducted on mice, the potential for the same or similar results in humans remains possible.

In light of the study's findings, Zernicka-Goetz and her team have decided to determine the exact proportion of healthy cells required to repair an embryo and what triggers the elimination of the abnormal cells.

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