SCIENTISTS SAY THEY WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE BABIES FROM SKIN CELLS --- CNN REPORT SAYS...
In the not-so-distant future, research suggests, eggs and sperm may no longer be needed to make a baby -- at least not in the traditional way.
In 2016, scientists in Japan revealed the birth of mice from eggs made from a parent's skin cells, and many researchers believe the technique could one day be applied to humans.The process, called in vitro gametogenesis, allows eggs and sperm to be created in a culture dish in the lab.
First human-pig embryos made, then destroyed
Human-pig embryos made, destroyed
First human-pig embryos made, then destroyed Human-pig embryos made, destroyedAdult cells, such as skin cells, can be reprogrammed to behave like embryonic stem cells and are then known as induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells can be stimulated to grow into eggs or sperm, which in turn are used to form an embryo for implantation into an adult womb.
Though most scientists agree we're still a long way off from doing it clinically, it's a promising technology that has the potential to replace traditional in vitro fertilization to treat infertility.If and when this process is successful in humans, the implications would be immense, but scientists are now raising legal and ethical questions that need to be addressed before the technology becomes a reality.A replacement for IVF?
In vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, is similar to IVF -- in vitro fertilization -- in that the joining of egg and sperm takes place in a culture dish.But with IVF, you have to collect eggs from the woman and sperm from the man, either surgically or non-surgically, said professor Alan Trounson of the Hudson Institute of Medical Research at Monash University in Australia. "Or you can do egg or sperm donation or a combination of both."Trounson believes IVG can provide hope for couples when IVF is not an option.This procedure can "help men or women who have no gametes -- no sperm or eggs," said Trounson, a renowned stem cell scientist best known for developing human IVF with Carl Wood in 1977.
Another potential benefit with IVG is that there is no need for a woman to receive high doses of fertility drugs to retrieve her eggs, as with traditional IVF.In addition, same-sex couples would be able to have biological children, and people who lost their gametes through cancer treatments, for instance, would have a chance at having biological children.
Woman is first to have baby with ovaries frozen in childhoodWoman is first to have baby with ovaries frozen in childhoodIn theory, a single woman could also conceive on her own, a concept that Sonia M. Suter, professor of law at George Washington University, calls "solo IVG." She points out that it comes with some risk, as there will be less genetic variety among the babies.
"Solo IVG -- unlike 'natural' reproduction -- increases the possibility of homozygosity (identical genes) for recessive genes, contributing to a greater risk of disease and disability," she wrote in a 2015 paper in the Oxford Academic Journal of Law and the Biosciences.
She added that the risk is even greater than with cloning and although you could use genetic diagnosis to find disease in embryos before implantation, it wouldn't fully reduce the risk.This all contributes to the fact that IVG is much more complicated than one might think, and experts add that the process will be even more complex in humans than in mice."It's a much tougher prospect to do this in a human -- much, much tougher. It's like climbing a few stairs versus climbing a mountain," son said.
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