Extracellular Vesicles: Decoding a New Language for Cellular Communication in Early Embryonic Development.

The blastocyst inner cell mass (ICM) that gives rise to a whole embryo can be derived and cultured as embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which retain full developmental potential. ICM cells receive, from diverse sources, complex molecular and spatiotemporal signals that orchestrate the finely-tuned processes associated with embryogenesis. Those instructions come, continuously, from themselves and from surrounding cells, such as those present in the trophectoderm and primitive endoderm (PrE).