It is true that the study was done on female mice, but there is hope that the same experiment may work in women as well.

 

“The finding may have important implications in regenerative and reproductive medicine,” the scientists wrote in the journal.

Researchers from the School of Life Science and Biotechnology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University led by Prof. Ji Wu isolated female germline stem cells (FGSC) from the ovaries of five-day-old and adult mice. These cells have the potential to divide indefinitely, so under correct experimental circumstances they can be grown in large numbers in the laboratory, stored for months or years and transplanted.

 

The researchers, then, cultured these cells for more than six months and transplanted into the ovaries of infertile female mice. Eighty percent of these mice went on to produce offspring after natural mating.

 

“These results suggest that oocytes can be regenerated in sterile recipient females by transplantation of FGSCs,” the researchers said.

 

The findings of the study were welcomed with enthusiasm by other scientists in the field. Professor Azim Surani of the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge University said the findings mean a lot for women who are not able to conceive babies.

 

“Sperm are produced continuously in men but the number of eggs in women is fixed at birth. This study ... suggests there are also stem cells present in ovaries that can be cultured in a dish, which can develop into viable eggs,” he said. He also added: “This new study in mice now suggests that there are also stem cells present in ovaries that can be cultured in a dish, which upon transfer to ovaries can develop into viable eggs and give rise to offspring. This finding, if confirmed independently, could advance understanding of these ovarian stem cells and advance research on female infertility.”

 

Robin Lovell-Badge at the MRC National Institute For Medical Research in Britain, who was not involved in the study, however, called for caution saying that a lot more work is needed to understand what these new cells really are, and to verify the findings and the claims before making any supposition that the experiment would work in humans too.

 

He also added that the mice involved in the study may not have been completely sterilized before being treated, making it possible to know whether their offspring came from surviving or regenerated eggs.