September 13, 2011

expert reaction to production of mouse sperm cells in the lab, as published in Nature Communications

In this study researchers succeeded in producing mouse sperm cells, allowing the process of sperm formation to be studied in the laboratory.

Professor Daniel Brison, British Fertility Society spokesperson and Scientific Director, Department of Reproductive Medicine, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“This is a very significant study, as it now permits sperm formation (spermatogenesis) to be studied in the laboratory rather than only in an animal model. Spermatogenesis is a highly complex biological process and in humans is often impaired, leading to a high incidence of subfertility in men. Relatively little is known about this, and there are few clinical treatments available other than assisted conception. This new research will allow a greater understanding of the way in which sperm form, and may eventually result in clinical therapies for male subfertility. For this to happen the work will have to be repeated using human germline stem cells, and there will also be safety aspects to consider before this method could be used for human reproduction.”

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

“Scientists have been attempting to grow sperm in the laboratory for some time, but have met with mixed success, depending on how they try to do it. Whilst sperm-like cells can sometimes develop, when they are used to fertilise eggs they often give rise to unhealthy offspring.

“One of the major hurdles to developing sperm in the laboratory, is to accurately re-create the 3D conditions in which sperm would normally develop. In nature, sperm don’t develop on their own, but they are intimately connected to ‘nurse’ cells which probably guide their development in some way.

“In this paper, the Japanese scientists use a recently developed ‘organ culture’ method to grown sperm in the lab using cells originally taken from the testicle of mice. This is a major advance, but also opens up a number of new and exciting research areas.

“For example, the fact that this study demonstrates it is possible to grow sperm in the lab which can’t grow in defective mouse testicles suggests we might now be able to better study where sperm production goes wrong. In the future this could lead to therapies to improve sperm production and overcome male infertility in some men.”

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1478: ‘In vitro production of fertile sperm from murine spermatogonial stem cell lines’, Sato T. et al (Yokohama City University, Japan), Nature Communications, 13 September 2011.