Scientists have made primitive1 forms of artificial sperm2 and eggs in a medical feat3 that could transform the understanding of age-related diseases and fertility problems.
科学家已于近日制造出人造精子和卵子的雏形。这一医疗壮举有望转变人们对于年龄相关疾病和生育问题的认识。
Researchers in Cambridge made the early-stage sex cells by culturing human
embryonic4 stem cells under carefully-controlled conditions for a week.
They followed the success by showing that the same procedure can convert adult skin tissue into
precursors6 for sperm and eggs, raising the
prospect7 of making sex cells that are
genetically8 matched to patients.
The cells should have the potential to grow into mature sperm and eggs, though this has never been done in the lab before. The next step for the researchers will be to inject the cells into mouse ovaries or testes to see if they
fully5 develop in the animals.
British law prohibits fertility clinics in the UK from using artificial sperm and eggs to treat
infertile9 couples. But if the law was revised, skin cells could potentially be taken from patients and turned into genetically identical sperm or eggs for use in IVF therapies.
Skin cells from a woman could only be used to make eggs because they lack the Y
chromosome10. Those from a male might theoretically be turned into eggs as well as sperm, but Azim Surani, who led the work at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, said that on the basis of current knowledge, that was unlikely.
Researchers have made sperm and eggs from
rodent11 stem cells before but have struggled do the same with human cells. In 2012, Japanese scientists created mouse eggs from stem cells and used them to make baby mice. Three years earlier, scientists at Newcastle University claimed to have made human sperm from stem cells, but their scientific paper was
retracted12 amid allegations of
plagiarism13. In 2002, US researchers produced male and female mouse pups from male stem cells.
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