Abstract
WE read with interest the short account of the nine-ten day human embryo described by Prof. Francis Davies in NATURE of April 15. This embryo is obviously of great importance and value to the study of early human development, in which such significant advances have been made in the past few years. Prof. Davies compares his specimen with the human ovum Wi-8004 described, in a preliminary communication, by Rock and Hertig1, and he states that "these two ova represent the earliest specimens of fully implanted human ova yet discovered". In fairness to Drs. Hertig and Rock, who have made such valuable contributions to this field of embryology, we think it should be pointed out that one of the ova (Mu—8020) described by them is estimated to be 7·5 days old and is in the earliest stage of human intra-uterine development so far described. This ovum is, of course, at a very much earlier stage of development than that described by Prof. Davies. Even the next older specimen of Rock and Hertig (Wi—8004), the one to which Prof. Davies refers, is not, unlike Prof. Davies's specimen, completely implanted. To quote Rock and Hertig: "the defective endometrial epithelium has been partially repaired and is in the process of closing the defect created by the implanting ovum". A comparison of the photograph of Prof. Davies's specimen with the photograph of Wi—8004 in Rock and Hertig's communication leaves us in no doubt that the former is in a more advanced stage of development and of implantation.
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References
Rock, J., and Hertrig, A. T., Amer. J. Obstet. Gynecol., 44, 973 (1942).
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HAMILTON, W., BOYD, J. Early Human Embryos. Nature 153, 684 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153684b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153684b0
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