Washington, October 30: Scientists at the Stanford University in California have inched closer to producing artificial sperm and eggs, a development that promises new treatments for infertility.
The research, which is published in the journal Nature, offers the strongest evidence yet that it is possible to grow human reproductive tissue from embryonic stem cells, and even to make eggs and sperm.
“Our goal is to understand how you make eggs and sperm,” said Renee Reijo Pera, who led the research.
“We know almost nothing about human reproductive development, and this gives us a new way to investigate it. The hope is some day to help those who are infertile” he said.
The researchers created primitive human sperm and eggs and the germ cells that make them from embryonic stem cells.
It could eventually open new approaches to restoring or preserving fertility, such as gene therapies that stimulate gamete production in the testes or ovaries to allow natural conception, The Times online reported today.
The study also advances the prospect of creating synthetic sperm and eggs in the laboratory to allow men and women who make none to have their own genetic children, the report said.
The Stanford researchers are now trying to create germ cells using reprogrammed adult cells with embryo-like properties. If this works, it could become possible to use these to grow in-vitro derived eggs and sperm with the genetic characteristics of an infertile person, the report said.
This, however, remains at least five years away, and would have to clear significant ethical and safety hurdles.
Pera cautioned that while her research had generated immature eggs and sperm, it would be unsafe and unethical to use these in reproduction.
“It’s an ultimate goal of the work, but these are highly genetically modified cells and it would not be appropriate to use them to make an embryo,” Pera underlined.
–PTI