E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Reuters reports:
Researchers in Japan used embryonic stem cells to grow healthy mouse sperm on laboratory dishes, a development which could help treat human infertility, they said Friday.
The finding, published in the journal Cell, marks a step forward for using stem cells for regenerative medicine.
Stem cells are the body's master cells and source of all cells and tissues. Because they can grow into different types of cells and multiply, experts hope to harness them to treat diseases and disorders, including cancer and diabetes.
Scientists at Kyoto University removed stem cells from mouse embryos and managed to coax them into a type of precursor cell known to grow into either mouse eggs or sperm.
They then transplanted these cells into the testes of infertile male mice -- which apparently went on to produce healthy sperm.
"The sperm were removed directly from the testes and fertilized with eggs (on laboratory dishes)," said lead author Mitinori Saitou, a professor at Kyoto University's department of anatomy and cell biology.
"After insemination, we made two set of embryos and these were transferred into the uterus of the foster mother and they derived healthy mice (that went on to reproduce normally)."
"We have huge materials to work with now and ... we can accelerate our study into the cause of human infertility," Saitou told Reuters.
Leave a Comment:
Just what this world needs; yet another way to override the natural balance of order and produce millions more human beings.
that was exactlty my first thought also.
So, the deep emotional pain that infertile couples feel means nothing to you?
Do you REALLY think the solution to overpopulation is to stop trying to help couples that WANT to be parents, rather than encouraging the use of methods to prevent pregnancy in couples that DON'T want to be parents?
/facepalm
LMAO @ Duncan!!!!
Sunpigs Right on. Actually this is just a tool for the infertility clinics to squeeze more money out of the vain woman.
Great, now we can treat infertile mice,........why?
Do you REALLY not understand that an approach like this that works in mice may very well also work on humans?
. This gives new meaning to the term" RUG RAT"
This is how the link to this story is posted on msn! Come on guys! Hire some proof readers already! "Stell cells"? Really?
For real, right? I have seen more and more spelling errors on here and on TV in the morning watching the scrolling news....somebody needs a keyboarding lesson!!!
I can't find the comment regarding over population but because of a comment I see in response to it, I assume it must exist.
My response is, I totally agree. Unfortunately, yes there are couples out there that want children and can't have them, I however don't understand why it is so mandatory to have one of their own (biologically). There are children born every day from healthy women who weren't diseased or on any harmful substances that are unwanted. (For example the many teen pregnancies.) Why create another human being via cell manipulation instead of embracing a life that already exists as well as embracing the opportunity to bless that life with love and health that it may not get from its biological parents or whatever foster homes it may be in and out of until its 18 (if living in a country that has a foster home program).
It hurts my heart to know that there are plenty of little babies that are hungry or mistreated and are in dire need of the love these people have in their hearts for babies, but they won't get it; and while those babies are not the responsibility of anyone but the two people that produced it and our government that it will probably be mostly supported by, I don't see the difference of having an adopted baby and a traditionally conceived (or genetically morphed) baby. Aren't they all little innocent lives that will be conditioned by their environment that will unconditionally love those who give them love, discipline, and foundations for a solid future?
I'm not saying that people are wrong for wanting this technology to advance so that they can one day carry out their genetic prophecy. I'm not saying they're wrong for not taking responsibility for babies born into sketchy homes.
All I'm doing is sharing my opinion which is: Why use stem cells to solve human infertility when the entire planet is over populated to the point that our natural resources are running out and many countries (including our own) are experiencing droughts and famine because Earth cannot keep up with the amount of humans on it and we (humans) keep populating areas that weren't meant to be populated (i. e. places that cannot support vegetation) because our numbers keep growing and these unfriendly environments are the only places available for the masses? Why not counteract population overload by supporting existing lives not creating new ones! Also, why not reserve the stem cells for the curing of paralysis and other conditions or diseases?
We do live in a free country that allows us to pursue our happiness. If happiness to them is paying large amounts of money to create a new life with stem cells (which I believe should be reserved for curing paralysis, diabetes, cancer, heart disease,etc) then we can't stand in their way.
That link is to the YouTube of a classmate of mine that was paralyzed from the neck down until he went to India for stem cell research, he chronicles the journey of regaining movement and the ambition to one day regain all of his motor skills.
Side note: Obviously and unfortunately people who don't have fertility issues aren't kept in mind during debates on over population and whether couples should be given the chance to overcome infertility. No one cares about their abilities to provide for their children, give them the tools to become functioning and law abiding citizens and keep them out of the welfare system, and because we live in the greatest country ever (USA) there's also not a cap on the number of children that these (unquestioned fertile) people can have. While not all of them abuse the ability to have children, many of them are very irresponsible and have more children than they are capable of caring for, and some are simply not capable of being parents at all. My beliefs on reproduction in this country are very radical and do not reflect the freedoms that we have in this country that I love so much. Admittedly, even if these ideas weren’t extreme and radical, other aspects of them are flawed but my general opinion on reproduction and the right to do so are:
Firstly, I think that if you have been convicted of three (or more) felonies, you should be spayed or neutered (for lack of a better term). If you can’t stay out of jail then you probably can’t keep a job to support your family or provide an environment that will produce a functioning and law abiding child. Consequently our nation’s finances will suffer because the care provider for this child will probably need assistance with food, health care, clothing, and basic costs of raising children, and that assistance will probably be provided by our welfare system. Other statistics like children with criminal parents have an alarming dropout rate which would inevitably lead to them cycling into the welfare system for an almost guaranteed lifetime or even adding to the over populated correctional facilities themselves (which are also funded by the government). Sadly chances are if they are old enough to have three felonies they’ve probably made at least one baby.
Secondly I believe that all convicted sexual predators (not the guy that peed on a tree in his yard and two minors walked by in time to see, but actual offenders who have or had the blatant intention to physically (sexually) harm people) should be spayed or neutered (for lack of a better term, and honestly my true belief is that their genitals should be maimed and/or removed but hey, that’s just me).
Thirdly I believe that if you are charged with child abuse or neglect you should be spayed or neutered (for lack of a better term). (I don’t mean the people who whipped their children in WalMart and got arrested, I mean those who are truly a danger by their actions or lack thereof (physical, mental, emotional abuse, leaving five year old’s chained to the table, caging their foster children like animals, knowingly letting the flavor of the week sexually abuse them (or abuse them in any way for that matter).
And fourthly and finally, I believe that while our Planned Parenthood program provides oral contraceptives, IUDs, patches and other forms of birth control as well as hysterectomies for women, they should also perform vasectomies on those men who want them.