A recent study details how created by scientists The pups used cells from two males. This is the first time researchers have achieved such an achievement. Naturea British scientific journal, published the study on Wednesday (March 15).
AP reports that The researchers started by taking skin cells from the tails of two male mice. Then they turned those cells into “Induced pluripotent stem cells,” or iPSC. Of course, there are also human iPSCs, which can be obtained from skin or blood cells like mice. According to UCLA’s Center for Broad Stem Cell Research, these cells can produce “an unlimited source of any type of human cell needed for therapeutic purposes.”
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After transforming the skin cells of the mice, the researchers converted them from male mouse stem cells into female cells. That process involves developing iPSCs and treating them with a drug. As a result, the egg cells are functional.
Their next step was to fertilize the eggs and implant the embryos into female mice. Unfortunately, out of 39 embryos, only 7 developed into pups. This means that only one percent of embryos develop and survive birth.
The mice are made from cells
Last week, research team leader Katsuhiko Hayashi told colleagues that the surviving pups had no abnormal growth problems. In addition, those pups later become parents through normal channels, in other words, having sex. Hayashi provided an update to his scientific colleagues at the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing.
Although the research is an achievement of researchers in this field, others worry about the long-term impact. Diana Laird is an expert in stem cells and reproduction at the University of California at San Francisco. According to AP, she called the research “an important step in both stem cell and reproductive biology.”
But in a published commentary, Laird and her colleague Jonathan Bayerl warned of the technique’s inefficiencies. As mentioned, only one percent of embryos are reported to develop into pups and survive long enough to become parents. Laird and Bayerl say survival rates may depend on technical or biological reasons, but that remains unclear.
However, colleagues also positive markincluding the ability to reproduce endangered mammals using cells from a male.
“And it may even provide a template for allowing more people to have biological children while avoiding the ethical and legal problems of their own,” Laird and Bayerl said in commentary published with the study. egg donation.
At this time, there is not enough research to show that the same technique or protocol might work for human stem cells.
