Are we on our way to seeing more and more artificial human beings soon because of science?
Scientists in China have successfully bred a handful of healthy mice from sperm cells they created themselves inside the laboratory using embryonic stem cells plucked from these animals.
Manufacturing the mouse sperm cells was not an easy process. The scientists had to meticulously and carefully nudge the mouse stem cells through a complex series of steps known as meiosis to make sure that they can properly develop into sperm cells.
Jiahao Sha, research head and director of the Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine at Nanjing Medical University in China, explained that the results of their experiments on the mice mark an important milestone in science, and can provide hope to human males suffering from infertility.
Sha nevertheless acknowledged that there are still ethical considerations involved before they can move forward in their experiments and possibly use it for human subjects. Utilising manufactured sperm cells for human experiments can have an effect not just on the immediate offsprings born but also on future generations.
"If it works, human sperm cells could possibly be produced. However, in the current stage, ethics should be concerned, and any possible risks ruled out," Sha explained, as quoted by The Guardian.
The lead researcher nevertheless said that their technique of manufacturing healthy sperm cells from stem cells "holds tremendous promise," especially in producing babies even without sexual intercourse.
"If proven to be safe and effective in humans, our platform could potentially generate fully functional sperm for artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilisation," Sha said.
Niels Geijsen, a stem cell biologist at the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands, meanwhile said the Chinese scientists' experiment is indeed promising, given the fact that the scientific community has tried, but failed, to create sperm cells in the laboratory.
"It is, I think, truly the first time any lab has been able to go all the way up to a live pup in vitro, which is quite amazing, if this is indeed what happened," Geijsen told Science Magazine.
