Creating Precursors to Human Sperm and Ova from Adult Cells

Primordial germ cells have been created using a technique developed by researchers. These primordial germ cells are the embryonic cells that give rise to sperm and ova.

The research conducted by Weizmann Institute Of Science explained the cause of fertility problems, yield insight into the earliest stages of embryonic development and potentially, and in future, it would enable the development of new kinds of reproductive technology.

Dr. Jacob Hanna, head researcher, said that researchers have been attempting to create human primordial germ cells (PGCs) in the petri dish for years.

Previously a research led by Dr. Hanna pointed out some new methods that could take human cells to the PGC state, and focused on the question of how human iPS cells and mouse embryonic cells are different.

Hanna in his previous studies pointed out that PGCs are only the first step in creating human sperm and ova, but faced a hurdle of how the chain of events that move an adult cell through the cycle of embryonic stem cell and around to sperm or ova would be completed.

This was the first time that human cells have been programmed into this early developmental stage, and it would further help in to investigate the process of differentiation on the molecular level.

The study results are published in Cell.

Source: ANI