Scientists have achieved unbelievable feats in recent years with greater knowledge and cutting-edge technology.
Recently, a group of scientists from Osaka University in Japan successfully created mice born to two biological fathers.
The team shared that seven of their 630 attempts at creating these mice were successful.
Nevertheless, technology still has a long way to go before it can be applied to human society.
According to the scientific journal Nature, the researchers first shared their approach at a London summit earlier this month.
To put things simply, the team of scientists figured out a way to create eggs from adult male mice cells.
After growing the cells in culture and treating the male cells with a special compound, these cells eventually lost their Y chromosomes.
From there, the scientist weeded out the cells with two X chromosomes. These cells were then treated to form immature eggs.
After that, the process is a bit simpler.
The scientists used mouse sperm to fertilise the eggs before transferring the embryo into the uterus of a female mouse.
After which, some of the eggs developed into seemingly healthy and fertile offspring.
Source: South China Morning Post
Of the 630 embryos transferred, only seven developed into pups that grew normally and were fertile as adults.
Nature reported that the scientists had been working on the project for about three years.
Led by developmental biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi, the team published their first findings in 2020.
A year later, they announced that they could recreate the environment of mouse ovaries in a lab.
Source: National Cancer Institute on Unsplash for illustration purposes only.
The Japanese team succeeded in doing what a previous team of Chinese scientists failed to do in 2018.
Although the offspring with two fathers were successfully delivered, they died a few days later.
Therefore, the Osaka University team experienced a triumph — especially since they only predicted a 1% success rate.
At the summit, Hayashi acknowledged “big differences between a mouse and a human”.
As such, scientists will have more work before this technology can be implemented in humans.
Furthermore, Nature’s report also highlighted how researchers would need to make their process more efficient and practical, given the technique’s low success rate.
It is also yet to be determined if the protocol would work on human stem cells.
Despite the technical issues, this discovery might come as hopeful news to some people.
According to South China Morning Post, experts Diana Laird and Jonathan Bayerl wrote in a commentary on Nature that Hayashi’s technology “opens up new avenues in reproductive and fertility research”.
Male same-sex couples could also potentially have biological children in the future “while circumventing the ethical and legal issues of donor eggs”.
What do you think of the feat? Let us know in the comments.
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Featured image adapted from Nature.
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