Artificial sperm and eggs created in the laboratory

October 28, 2009 by Baby Chums
Filed under: News, Pregnancy

Human Sperm and eggs have been grown in the laboratory in a breakthrough process that could change parenthood forever. Infertile men and women could have children that are biologically their own.

Moral and ethical concerns are high, particularly as children being born through entirely artificial means becomes possible, leaving men and women sidelined from the process of making babies.

The U.S. government-funded research, published in the prestigious journal Nature, centres on stem cells, ‘master cells’.

Stanford University scientists found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into turning into eggs and sperm.

The sperm had heads and short tails and are thought to have been mature enough to fertilize an egg.

The eggs were at a much earlier stage but were still much more developed than any created so far by other scientists.

The double success raises the prospect of men and women one day ‘growing’ their own sperm and eggs for use in IVF treatments.

The American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin.

The skin cells would first be exposed to a mixture that wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs.

Starting with a person’s own skin would also mean the lab-grown sperm or eggs would not be rejected by the body.

The breakthrough could also unlock many of the secrets of egg and sperm production, leading to new drug treatments for infertility, a little understood condition that affects one in six couples.

Defects in sperm and egg development are the biggest cause of infertility but, because many of the key stages occur in the womb, scientists have struggled to study the process in detail.

A greater understanding of the process could also produce a pill that slows the ageing of a woman’s own stock of eggs, delaying menopause.

Dr Allan Pacey, a Sheffield University expert in male fertility said: ‘Ultimately this may help us find a cure for male infertility.

‘Not necessarily by making sperm in the laboratory, I personally think that it unlikely but by identifying new targets for drugs or genes that may stimulate sperm production to occur naturally.

‘This is a long way off, but it is a laudable dream.’

But critics say it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life.

Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said that IVF should be the preserve of married couples.

He said: ‘We are very keen to promote ethical IVF treatments which respect the sanctity of life and the marriage bond.

‘The question is, why are we creating artificial gametes (eggs and sperm) and aborting 200,000 babies a year when there are many, many couples willing to adopt?’

Anthony Ozimic, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: ‘As with IVF, artificial insemination and the use of donor gametes, the use of artificial gametes in reproduction would distort and damage relations between family members.

‘There are no instances of any major medical advance achieved by abandoning basic ethical principles such as safeguarding the right to life.’

Dr Reijo Pera said any future use of artificial eggs and sperm would have to be subject to guidelines.

She said: ‘Whether one builds the boundaries on religion or just on an internal sense of right and wrong, these are important.

‘In this field, it is not “anything goes”.’