The return capsule of the Shenzhou-22 spaceship is pictured at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, May 29, 2026. (Xinhua/Lian Zhen)
Mouse embryo material brought back to Earth inside the Shenzhou-22 return capsule is expected to provide a theoretical foundation for future research on conceiving life during long-term human space habitation.
The Shenzhou-22 successfully made it back from China's space station on May 29. The cultured embryo material was among science samples brought back as part of a project undertaken by a research team from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
According to SIAT, the experiment aims to explore developmental patterns of mammalian pre-implantation embryos in a space environment, including the key mechanisms underlying mitochondrial damage and epigenetic modification abnormalities in embryos.
EMBRYO CULTURE IN SPACE
Led by a senior researcher Lei Xiaohua from the Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction of SIAT's Institute of Bio-medicine and Biotechnology, the team performed the in-orbit culture of mouse embryos, at various developmental stages, using a biotechnology experiment cabinet on the space station.
"Given the strict constraints on spaceship transfer and in-orbit resources, the core challenge of this experiment was how to achieve embryo culture and real-time imaging within limited space," Lei said.
The team collaborated with another SIAT team, led by Men Yongfan from the Research Center for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, to design an embryo microfluidic chip culture box. It featured two rows of six culture chambers. This design simultaneously met the needs of two experimental groups with three replicate experiments each, and was compatible with the space station's automated culture system.
After ground-based verification tests, the team established a complete experimental system for mammalian pre-implantation embryo culture, imaging, perfusion fixation, and cryopreservation suitable for the space station.
The team confirmed in-orbit embryo development images were successfully captured, and that embryo development, as well as fixation and preservation conditions, were optimal.
FURTHER RESEARCH
In the early morning of May 30, live science experiment samples retrieved from the Shenzhou-22 return capsule were transported to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing via specialized refrigeration equipment.
In future research, Lei's team will conduct systematic comparison and integrated analysis of the returned samples and ground-based control samples, including developmental phenotype statistics, specific protein molecular staining, high-resolution chromatin three-dimensional imaging, and multi-omics sequencing.
"Through in-depth analysis of the space embryo samples, we will provide critical evidence for understanding how the space environment affects mammalian pre-implantation embryo development," Lei said.
The research will provide key data when determining space's influence on zygotic genome activation stage and whether the space environment can support normal early development, thereby deepening our understanding of the initial developmental patterns of mammalian life in the space environment, he added.
Lei had participated in two major space embryo experiments of the country. In 2006, a Chinese research team achieved real-time imaging of space embryos from the ground for the first time via the Shijian-8 satellite.
In 2016, China's Shijian-10 satellite carried early mouse embryos into space, for the first time achieving the complete development in space of mouse embryos from the 2-cell stage, an early-on embryonic cleavage stage, to blastocyst, the stage where noticeable cell differentiation occurs.
