Embryology studies the formation of life from a single cell organism, egg or sperm, until it becomes a fully formed organism. It has practical applications such as in vitro fertilization, identifying risk factors for genetic conditions, and cloning. The debate around the beginning of life and the morality of manipulating human cells continues.
Embryology is the study of the formation of life, part of the studies that developmental biology deals with. Developmental biology examines how all life forms begin and develop into fully formed and functioning organisms. The focus of embryology is much narrower.
An embryologist observes the beginning of life from a single cell organism, egg or sperm. Embryologists examine fertilization and follow the development of the embryo until it resembles its ancestors. For example, in human conception, embryologists would be interested in both the sperm and the egg, and the meeting of the two, and then follow the implantation of the egg and the growth of an embryo until it reaches the fetal stage. So in humans, the study of an embryo would last until the second month of pregnancy.
Some embryologists look further into the full development of different organs in the body. For example, neuroembryology studies how the spinal cord and central nervous system develop from the fertilized egg. Cardiologists use embryology so they can classify how a fertilized egg develops in the heart and lungs.
Aristotle was one of the first to advocate the theory of epigenesis, the concept that life forms develop into complex organisms from fertilization. This was not a popular concept and has largely been discarded in favor of the preformation theory, which suggested that every human sperm was already an expectant person. In the mid-eighteenth century, Caspar Fredriech Wolff once again enunciated the concept of epigenesis. Through his study of chick embryos, Wolff realized that an organism’s body has stages of development. Through vivisection, he observed the complexity of specific organs and argued that their development could not simply have occurred spontaneously, but had to develop over time.
Subsequent scientists followed his studies, and with the development and subsequent improvements of the microscope, Wolff’s theories proved to be quite accurate. Wolff is credited as the “father of embryology,” even though he did not first conceptualize epigenesis. Today theories of embryology are easier to prove because of the accuracy with which we can examine the DNA codes inside a cell.
There are several practical applications of embryology in the modern world. Embryology has given doctors the tools to create fertilized eggs for implantation in vitro. Embryology can also identify risk factors for serious genetic conditions within the fertilized egg and select the most viable eggs for implantation. The study of embryology led directly to the concept of cloning, whether for a whole organism or for parts of an organism.
Cloning and in vitro fertilization have both been the subject of enormous debate. Part of the problem lies within every embryology textbook. Everyone says that life begins at conception. While it is true that some form of life begins at the moment of conception, the degree, value and quality of that life are not taken into account. Thus, supporters and opponents of abortion argued about this concept before and after the legalization of abortion.
Cloning is even more contested. Some in the field of embryology suggest that life cannot begin in a petri dish, and therefore any embryos created are not really “alive.” Others absolutely refute this concept and believe that the manipulation of human cells is “playing God”, and as such is immoral and potentially dangerous. No doubt this debate will continue, particularly with regard to legislation allowing the extraction of stem cells from human embryos.
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