A team of Japanese researchers has used human iPS cells to create immature reproductive cells that can develop into eggs. This is the world’s first achievement of its kind.
iPS cells can develop into any kind of body tissue. The team turned them into cells that are the origin of reproductive cells.
The group also extracted ovarian cells from baby mice. It then cultivated the 2 types of cells in the same container for about 3 months.
The team says it obtained spherical cells with large nuclei. Analysis of the shape of the cells and their gene expression led the team to conclude that they were oogoniums, which are a precursor stage of ova cells.
The group says the achievement will help to establish a technique to produce human ova from iPS cells. It adds that shedding more light on how ova form will help explain the causes of infertility.
The team is led by Professor Mitinori Saitou of Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Medicine. He says his team will try to perfect a method to make human eggs without using mouse cells.
Japan’s national guidelines ban fertilizing iPS cell-derived eggs on ethical grounds.