1 in 3 cases of the inability of couples on the planet to have children is due to male infertility; but this problem could have the days numbered. A team of scientists from Nanjing Medical University ( China) has succeeded in creating sperm cells in the laboratory for the first time. The work has been published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Meiosis , one of the forms of cell reproduction that occurs in the sex glands for the production of gametes, is the key to this problem of male infertility . Basically, meiosis does not occur. And, without it, the sperm are not functional and therefore do not have the capacity to fertilize the egg.
Scientists had struggled to successfully complete all essential steps of meiosis in the laboratory, posing a major obstacle to the production of functional sperm and eggs in vitro . Up to now.
The experiment was carried out with mouse embryonic stem cells . The experts exposed the cells to a chemical cocktail that caused them to turn into primordial germ cells. After this, the resulting cells were exposed to testicular cells: the result was that the embryonic stem cells became functional sperm cells. The success was resounding because when injecting them into fertile female eggs, and after a pregnancy period of just over 20 days, the process gave rise to the birth of completely healthy mice.
In light of the results, the meiosis process was fully fruitful: the production of sperm also carried a correct chromosomal content and the developed embryos progressed normally.
“If it proves to be safe and effective in humans, our platform could potentially generate fully functional sperm for artificial insemination, or in vitro fertilization techniques. Because currently available treatments do not work for many couples, we hope that our approach can substantially improve success rates for male infertility , ”explains Jiahao Sha, leader of the study.
