Washington: For the first time, scientists have grown baby mice from the cells of two humans, raising a slim possibility of such technology being used for human births. However, experts have said that very few mouse embryos develop into live mouse babies and no one knows whether this will work for humans. “It’s a very sensible technique,” said stem cell specialist Diana Laird at the University of California, San Francisco, who was involved in the research. This is an important step in both stem cells and reproductive biology.” Scientists have given information about their research work in a study published on Wednesday in the journal ‘Nature’.
In the research, scientists first took skin cells from the tails of male mice and turned them into “induced pluripotent stem cells” that can develop into many different cell types or tissues. Then, through a process, they converted the stem cells of male mice into female cells and then developed egg cells. The process involves growing the cells and treating them with a drug. Ultimately, they fertilized those eggs and implanted the embryos into female mice. Of the total 630 embryos, seven (about one percent) were able to develop into live mouse pups.
Researchers from Kyushu University and Osaka University in Japan, Katsuhiko Hayashi, told fellow scientists at the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing last week that the mouse babies appeared to develop normally and were able to reproduce on their own in a normal way. In a commentary published alongside the study in Nature, Laird and his colleague, Jonathan Bierle, said the work “opens up new avenues in reproductive biology and reproductive research” for animals and humans. (agency)
