A team of scientists from the University of Kyoto (Japan) has managed to produce viable sperm from mouse stem cells in an experiment that, according to the researchers, could lead to a treatment for male infertility in the future. The finding, published in the journal Cell , marks a milestone in the use of stem cells in the field of regenerative medicine.
The Japanese researchers extracted stem cells from mouse embryos and engineered them to become a type of precursor cell that develops sperm in rodents. The team then transplanted those cells into the testes of infertile male mice , which apparently managed to produce healthy semen.
"The semen was collected directly from the testes and fertilized eggs in the laboratory," said study author Mitinori Saitou, a professor in the department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Kyoto University. After insemination, two series of embryos were obtained, which were transferred to the uterus of the recipient mother and generated healthy mice.
Saitou's team believes that it would be possible to use adult human stem cells to generate human semen, although much research remains to be done. "We can possibly use this knowledge to induce human primordial germ cells," which are those that generate eggs and sperm, Saitou said.
