Japanese researchers have successfully raised seven mice from two male biological parents, using the mice’s skin cells to create a viable egg and then fertilize it.
They hope this research will advance fertility treatment. But it also opens the way for men in same-sex relationships to conceive a child without a surrogate mother, which has been happening more and more lately.
“This is the first time that healthy breast eggs have been created from male cells,” said Katsuhiko Hayashi of Kyushu University, who led the study. He went on to say that it could be effective for people over the next decade.
The researchers, who presented their results at the Third International Human Genome Editing Summit in London, wanted to develop a treatment for Turner syndrome. This condition only affects women and occurs when they have an X chromosome that is partially or completely missing from their genetic make-up.
Women usually have two X chromosomes, while men have one X and one Y.
These chromosomes first develop in the womb and determine whether the fetus will develop as a male or female.
Women born with a single X chromosome are often infertile, have delayed puberty, are shorter, and have an increased risk of heart disease or learning disabilities.
Japanese researchers hope to develop stem cell therapy to treat infertility associated with this condition.
They created stem cells using eight-week-old mice, choosing those that had, for some reason, lost their Y chromosome.
The scientists then manipulated the cells in such a way as to copy the remaining X chromosome, creating a cell with two X genes, which is usually considered a female cell.
“The biggest trick in this matter is X-chromosome cloning,” Dr. Hayashi said.
They turned these cells into eggs and used sperm from male mice to fertilize them in the lab.
More than half a dozen healthy mice were born as a result of this process.
And tell Dr. Hayashi new scientist He believes the door is now open for children born to two parents.
Now his team hopes to replicate the same process with human cells.
He told The Guardian: “From a purely technological point of view, it will be possible (in humans) even in 10 years. I don’t know if it will be playable. This is not only a question of the scientific program. but also for (society).”
Other experts have called the study groundbreaking but say there is still a long way to go before two men can conceive a child without a woman.
Source: Daily Mail
