A major breakthrough in fertility has occurred after a team of scientists created ‘artificial’ sperm in a lab, but will it see women giving up on men in the boudoir?
In a breakthrough which could yet see infertile men being able to father their own children, a team of German and Israeli researchers were able to recreate a small amount of mouse sperm in laboratory simply by growing it out of cells.
The researchers created the sperm by growing a few cells in a laboratory dish.
The achievement, which was a world first, was made by a team headed by Professor Stefan Schlatt, at Muenster University in Germany, reports the Irish Independent.
Germ cells – the cells in your testicles that are responsible for sperm production – were surrounded by agar jelly and heated to just below body temperature to give the cells an environment similar to that of your nads.
Stephen Gordon, a leading British male infertility consultant, praised the breakthrough. He said: “This is an amazing development that could revolutionise fertility treatment and allow every man to be a natural father.
“Infertile men naturally want to be the father of their child but at present have to accept that can’t happen. With the mouse discovery, that could now be a possibility.”
Professor Mahmoud Huleihel, who also grew the sperm at Israel’s Ben Gurion University in Beersheba, said: “We have already applied the same tests as we did with mice in the laboratory, using human cells, but as yet have not had success.
“It has taken us several years to reach this stage so a technique to create human sperm won’t come overnight but we have started that research already after our success with mice.”
So if they can grow sperm in a lab with just a few small cells, what will women need us for in the future? Looks like opening tight jars might be all we have left.
