August 4, 2011

expert reaction to Cell paper reporting healthy sperm derived from mouse embryonic stem cells

Researchers demonstrated the possibility of generating healthy sperm from mouse stem cells, which could then be used to produce healthy and fertile offspring.

Dr Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said:

“Many research groups have attempted to re-create the process of sperm production in the laboratory using stem cells as the starting material. This has huge implications for furthering our understanding of how sperm are made, but may also on day lead to a clinical application whereby we could make sperm for infertile men.

“Sadly, so far, none of the attempts to make sperm from embryonic stem cells have been hugely successful, although we have learned much about some of the cellular processes involved. Furthermore, most of the attempts to use sperm-like cells have lead to the birth of unhealthy offspring which have quickly died.

“In this paper, the authors have taken embryonic stem cells from mice through a series of steps in the laboratory to create just the earliest stage of sperm development. When these were transplanted into the testicles of infertile mice where normal looking sperm were formed. When these sperm were injected into mouse eggs, and the embryos transferred into a recipient mother, they gave rise to healthy pups which critically were in due course were fertile themselves.

“This is a quite a step forward in developing a process by which sperm could be made for infertile men, perhaps by taking as a starting point a cell from their skin or from something like bone marrow. Clearly more work needs to be done to refine this process, but it’s hugely exciting.”

Dr Jane Stewart, British Fertility Society spokesperson and consultant gynaecologist at Newcastle Fertility Centre , said:

“The ability to generate gametes or gamete producing cells in the laboratory would represent a landmark achievement in the understanding and potentially treatment of fertility problems. This publication in an animal model marks a further step towards this goal however as the authors clearly point out much work remains to be done before we have a full understanding of such biological processes and indeed the implications of undertaking them in the laboratory. Such work however is fundamentally important in furthering our understanding of the basics of reproductive biology.”