Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a procedure in which the nucleus of an adult or somatic cell is inserted into an enucleated egg for the creation of an embryo. In the laboratory, the nucleus, which contains a person’s DNA, is taken from a donor somatic cell grown in cell cultures, and the rest of that cell is not used. Somatic cells are any body cells other than the egg or sperm, such as heart cells, skin cells, nerve cells or any other non-germ cells, and they include adult stem cells.[1]
In research laboratories, the nucleus of an egg cell is removed, and the somatic cell nucleus is then inserted into this enucleated egg cell. After the cell is inserted into the egg, the somatic cell nucleus is finally reprogrammed naturally by the host cell.The egg now contains the nucleus of the somatic cell. The cell is then activated with an electrical or chemical stimulus, causing it to begin dividing. [2] After a few mitotic divisions in cell culture medium, this single cell forms a blastocyst which is an early stage embryo with only about 100 cells but with almost the identical DNA to the original donating organism.
SCNT is a laboratory research technique used to study therapeutic cloning, which aims to create patient-matched embryonic stem cells for possible future regenerative therapies. It is not an accepted fertility treatment, and human reproductive cloning is prohibited in many countries.
Published Clinical Citations
[1] ^ Tachibana M., Sparman M., Sritanaudomchai H., Ma H., Clepper L., Woodward J., Li Y., Ramsey C., Kolotushkina O., Mitalipov S. Mitochondrial gene replacement in primate offspring and embryonic stem cells. Nature. 2009;461:367–372. doi: 10.1038/nature08368
[2] ^ Jouneau A., Zhou Q., Camus A., Brochard V., Maulny L., Collignon J., Renard J.P. Developmental abnormalities of NT mouse embryos appear early after implantation. Development. 2006;133:1597–1607. doi: 10.1242/dev.02317