Men who suffer from infertility are unable to produce germ cells in the testicles. In them, the process of cell division, called meiosis, which should normally lead to the formation of sperm, is not done correctly.
Chinese researchers have undoubtedly just taken an important step in the fight against this male infertility. They manipulated mouse embryo cells, reports the regional daily site West Franceto turn them into reproductive cells capable of forming sperm.
After injecting them into an oocyte, the scientists succeeded in producing embryos and then implanting them in females. These mice then gave birth to pups.
This work, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell“offer very great promise for the treatment of male infertility”, explains Jiahao Sha, from Nanjing Medical School and co-author of this study.
This is not the first time that researchers have succeeded in creating germ cells from stem cells, recalls the journalist.
But the Chinese team managed to control the entire process that leads to the formation of sperm in the laboratory. The DNA present in the cells created in vitro remained identical and normal throughout spermatogenesis.
This approach must now be validated on other animals before being tested in humans. With no doubt ethical obstacles that researchers will have to overcome.
First broadcast: February 29, 2016
