The team that was led by the professor of genome biology at the Osaka University in Japan, Katsuhiko Hayashi initially generated eggs from the skin cells of male mice and when implanted in female mice produced healthy offspring.
On March 15, the publication was made in the journal Nature. So with this finding they concluded that the mice had two biologically male parents. They explain that the research is the culmination of years of hard laboratory work.
They detail that this could expand the possibilities of future treatments of fertility, same-sex couples and help prevent the extinction of endangered animals.
Fertility was analyzed in the journal Nature. GH file.
“Human application is expected to take a long time, perhaps 10 years or more. Even if it is applied, we never know if the eggs are safe enough to produce (a) baby,” Hayashi said.
HOW WAS FERTILIZATION CARRIED OUT IN THE MICE?
According to the note shared by CNN, XO cells were cultured. They discovered that some cells developed two X chromosomes. This was the result of errors in cell division and became chromosomally female.
Treatment of XO cells with a compound called reversin the number of XX cells increased, the researchers found.
From that moment they became primordial germ cells, precursors of eggs and sperm. Then they were programmed and turned into eggs.
After being fertilized with sperm and implanted in the uterus of a mouse, the ova generated live offspring.
Only 7 of 630 implanted mouse embryos gave rise to mouse pups. In the case of endangered animals it is a promising technique.
The techniques developed by Hayashi could help the northern white rhino breeding program, said Thomas Hildebrandt, professor and chair of wildlife reproductive medicine at Freie Universität Berlin and director of reproductive management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.