Men who have become sterileafter cancer can they become a dad with their own sperm? An experiment carried out by Japanese researchers leads to believe in this possibility in the future. In the scientific journal Nature communications, they explain that they managed to freeze a testicle sample from mice five days after birth. For this, they used different reproduction techniques, in particular artificial insemination.
Baby mice were produced at the end of the experiment. These rodents were able to reproduce and give life to a new generation of healthy mice. Professor Takehiko Ogawa of Yokohama City University praised the operation, “the first ever to be carried out on animals.” The expert specifies, however, that the process will take a few years before being tested on humans. “We are working on samples of human tissue, which are very different from those of mice. I have to find a way for this to work, but I cannot say how long it will take,” he told the BBC .
Encouraging research
If one finds application in humans, the potential will be immense for young men who become infertile after chemotherapy for cancer. Dr Allan Pacey, fertility specialist at the University of Sheffield is convinced: “Growing sperm in the laboratory for men who have become infertile at a young age following cancer treatment is preferable to a trial for tissue transplantation in their own. testicle when they want to become dads “
. this second option seems indeed more risky since cancer cells could be involuntarily reintroduced into the testicular tissue.
