UCLA research could be step toward lab-grown eggs and sperm to treat infertility

A new study on how and when the precursors to eggs and sperm are formed during development could help pave the way for generating egg and sperm cells in the lab to treat infertility.The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, describes the way in which human stem cells evolve into germ cells, the precursors for egg and sperm cells.“Right now, if your body doesn’t make germ cells then there’s no option for having a child that’s biologically related to you,” said Amander Clark, the study’s lead author, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. “What we want to do is use stem cells to be able to generate germ cells outside the human body so that this kind of infertility can be overcome.”It is estimated that infertility affects 10% of the U.S. population, and infertility rates have increased over the past several decades because more people are waiting longer to have children. Many forms of infertility can be treated using procedures that join egg and sperm together outside the body, such as in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. But for people whose bodies don ’t produce eggs or sperm — because of chemotherapy, radiation, genetics or other unexplained causes — those treatments aren’t an option unless a donor provides the eggs or sperm.“With donated eggs and sperm, the child is not genetically related to one or both parents,” said Clark, who also is a UCLA professor...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news