Sperm grown from stem cells in infertility breakthrough
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Sperm grown from stem cells in infertility breakthrough
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July 11, 2006
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AdvertisementSCIENTISTS have achieved a world first that could aid male fertility by growing sperm from embryonic stem cells, it was revealed yesterday.
A team of scientists carried out the experiment on mice and produced seven babies, six of which lived to adulthood.
The breakthrough by Newcastle University helps scientists understand more about how animals produce sperm and could help treat male infertility.
The research team was led by Professor Karim Nayernia, who has recently joined Newcastle University as professor of stem cell biology.
Stem cells have the potential to develop into any tissue type in the body and could therefore be used to develop a wide range of medical therapies.
Professor Nayernia and his team developed a new strategy for generating mature sperm cells in the laboratory using embryonic stem cells from mice.
They then went on to test whether this sperm would function in real life.
The team isolated stem cells from a blastocyst, an early-stage embryo, which is a cluster of cells only a few days old. These cells were grown in the laboratory and screened using a special sorting machine. Some had grown into a type of stem cell known as spermatogonial stem cells, or early-stage sperm cells.
The spermatogonial cells were singled out, then genetically marked and grown in the laboratory. Some of them grew into cells resembling sperm, known as gametes, which were themselves singled out and highlighted using a genetic marker.
The sperm that had been derived from the embryonic stem cells was then injected into the female mouse eggs and grown into early-stage embryos. These embryos were successfully transplanted into the female mice, which produced seven babies.
Professor Nayernia, who originally hails from southern Iran, said: "This research is particularly important in helping us to understand more about spermatogenesis, the biological process in which sperm is produced.
"We must know this if we are to get to the root of infertility," he said.
In Australia, Paul Verma, a senior scientist at the Monash Institute of Medical Research and the Australian Stem Cell Centre, said it was a significant advance.
"So far what people have produced are sperm-like structures, and they haven't been able to show them to be functional. So here, what they've done is actually produced functional sperm from stem cells," he said.
PA with CAROL NADER |
