Scientists have managed to develop a mouse embryo structure using stem cells grown under laboratory conditions, according to findings published in the academic journal Science.

The cells then grew into primitive embryos that had identical internal structures to those that emerge under normal development in the womb.

Researchers hope to gain a deeper insight into how embryos develop just before implantation.

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The development marks significant progress in embryo development as previously attempts to grow artificial cells had only had limited success.

Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, who led the team, said: Im looking at it as a miracle of nature as well as trying to understand the process. Its incredibly beautiful that we can begin to understand those forces that give rise to self-organisation during the earliest stage of development.

The embryos were developed from a combination of genetically modified mouse cells, known a master cells and a 3D scaffold, referred to as an extracellular matrix, where the cells could grow.

Prof Zernicka-Goetz said: Both the embryonic and extra-embryonic cells start to talk to each other and become organised into a structure that looks like and behaves like an embryo.

The research could eventually be useful in the understanding of miscarriages and infertility should the procedure be carried out on human cells.

One in six pregnancies end in miscarriage, though there is still no explicit answer to how this happens.

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She said: If we can translate the knowledge into humans it will be incredibly powerful for understanding our own development at a stage when many human lives are lost.

However researchers said although the artificial embryo closely resembles a natural one, it is unlikely to develop further into a healthy mouse foetus. This would require a yolk sac, which provides nourishment for the embryo and where blood vessels develop.

Experiments are currently legally carried out on leftover human embryos from In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), but these can only be held for a maximum of 14 days under legal frameworks.

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The outcome of the experiment has also been criticised by some concerned that it may pave the way for genetically modified (GM) humans.

Dr David King, the Director of Human Genetics Alert, said: What concerns me about the possibility of artificial embryos is that this may become a route to creating GM or even cloned babies.

Until there is an enforceable global ban on those possibilities this kind of research risks doing the scientific groundwork for entrepreneurs who will use the technologies in countries with no regulations.

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'Miracle of nature' Scientists a step closer to HUMAN CLONING after creating mouse embryos - Express.co.uk