Can skin cells turn into eggs and sperm?

The revolution brings great benefits but also raises moral issues. Forty years ago, millions of rare couples wanted to have children thanks to in vitro fertilization by Louise Brown.

However, because human sperm and eggs must be used, this technique is somewhat limited to some cases when men cannot produce sperm and women who operate ovarian cancer. A study has come up with a very bold idea that ' turning skin cells into sperm and egg cells'?

The idea of ​​creating gametes from newly recognized skin cells over the past 11 years has brought many benefits. Instead of going through the painful and time-consuming process as before, gametes are created easily and without pain from just one piece of skin.

Images under a microscope about the activity of the stem cells (iPSCs).

In 2007, Japanese biologists Shinya Yamanaka and Kazutoshi Takahashi said somatic cells could produce stem cells. These cells are called and are currently being studied to develop human organs such as the pancreas, kidneys, and even eggs and sperm.

Mitinori Saitou of Kyoto University.(Photo source: Kyoto University).

Vegetative cells are injected into the gene mixture to create proteins - transcription factors and thereby control gene activity and determine the specific cell types that they will transform into. In it, there are only four transcription factors that transfer skin cells to act as stem cells. When converted to pluripotent stem cells, a cell can be converted to perform different functions.

A oogonium has a PGC origin.

Unlike normal cells that will contain 46 chromosomes, eggs and sperm have only 23 chromosomes and will then reach 46 after fertilization. So in order to form an egg or sperm cell, they must undergo the process of decomposing (dividing the chromosome number into two cells).

Pluripotent stem cells are precursors to PGC marine cells . The team led by Mitinori Saitou reports that they can paralyze the oocyte PGC cells (oogonia) and oocytes (oocytes) before starting to reduce the feces and the correct cell wall.

In addition, iPSC is cultured in rat ovaries that provide signals for PGC to develop a oocyte. They also succeeded in carrying out the entire mouse reproduction cycle in vitro. In 2011, researchers transplanted adult sperm into mouse testicles to fertilize the testicles and develop successful baby pups. Saitou said the team is trying to use human egg cells.

Stem cell biologist Werner Neuhausser thinks that immature and un-tailed sperm have the ability to fertilize when injected into an egg. The success of this method is only a matter of time and it may replace the donation method. In addition, it is necessary to ensure safety and anticipate risks when conducting extensive testing.

A biological researcher Henry Greely of Stanford University says that the context of genetic screening can change and even be faster and cheaper. However, he doubts that in vitro fertilization will eventually become the default method of reproduction when customers are selected for their genetic traits. He wrote in the book The End of Sex 'I hope, in the next 20 to 40 years, sex will disappear'.

This study poses a moral question. Gay couples can give birth to their genetic characteristics. This method will be an alarming issue if an individual conceives from his own cell with the elderly, the young or even the fetus, or just a cell on a beer bottle or alcohol can produce embryos. pregnancy.

Azim Surani, a developmental biologist at Cambridge University and a leading expert on artificial gametes, said: 'We don't have to worry about those problems because before we start clinical work on people. We need to undergo long and solid research on primates and that will take more than 10 years. It's amazing to think that every cell in your body is a potential gamete . '