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Human Fetal Growth and Development pp 223–229Cite as

Theoretical Postulation of the Embryological Basis of the Virgin Birth and Role of Embryonic Stem Cells Localized Out of the Embryo

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Abstract

A scenario is presented here for the miraculous event of Virgin birth. In case of a chimera of 46,XX/46,XY type resulting from the fusion of two embryos of different sex types, both ovary and testis develop in the body. It is well known that in chimera XX cells tend to gather on the left side while XY cells on the right; therefore, an ovary develops at the left side with an oviduct and a testis develops at the right side of the abdominal cavity with no duct. Both gonads are functional and produce oocyte and spermatozoa respectively after puberty. At the time of ovulation, estrogens leads to a negative pressure in the left oviduct and this vacuum effect helps oocyte and sperms to be picked-up into the tube, taking both types of gametes to the fertilization site in the left oviduct. Because of the higher temperature of the oocyte at the left ovary, fertilization occurs with a Y-bearing sperm to give rise to a XY male embryo which becomes miraculously Jesus. Pluripotent embryonic stem cells can produce any of the cell types of the body, although not the extraembryonic cells that go on to form structures such as the placenta. A group of pluripotent embryonic stem cells reside in the extraembryonic tissues such as allantois and yolk sac in the early developmental stages. The cells that enter the allantois do not return to the embryo, whereas other cells migrate in the embryo to reach the developing gonads. By not migrating into the embryo and staying in the allantois arrests the normal program of change of their character with time and so enables these stem cells to live without differentiating. It seems that in the early developmental stages, a group of pluripotent embryonic stem cells each of which can give rise to an embryo are set aside out of the embryo for a possible use in the future.

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  1. Gulhane Military Medical Academy, High Council of Science, Ankara, Turkey

    M. Kemal Irmak

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  1. Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India

    Niranjan Bhattacharya

  2. Boston University, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, USA

    Phillip G. Stubblefield

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Irmak, M.K. (2016). Theoretical Postulation of the Embryological Basis of the Virgin Birth and Role of Embryonic Stem Cells Localized Out of the Embryo. In: Bhattacharya, N., Stubblefield, P. (eds) Human Fetal Growth and Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14874-8_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14874-8_16

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