Cloning of monkeys with asexual method is less of a concern

Malcolm Ritter

The Oregon team achieved an impressive step - taking asexual embryonic stem cells, but this achievement is not immediately applicable to the treatment.

The main obstacle is moral and political issues. Human embryos must be destroyed to produce stem cells. This caused a wave of opposition to the study of stem cells in human embryos, and the Bush administration was forced to limit the federal budget for this study. Scientists think that delaying the development of science.

Another obstacle is the inefficiency of the process. According to Scientists Wednesday, even if this method works for humans, it requires too much of a valuable supply - unfertilized eggs of women.

The production of stem cells by asexual method promises to bring a lot of promise due to genetically appropriate for special patients. So in theory, doctors must be able to implant tissues made from stem cells into the human body and still avoid tissue excretion. This transplant can help treat some diseases like diabetes and spinal injury. According to Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Poland, told Wednesday's report, the process used in the new experiment 'was not very effective'.

He and his colleagues had to take two stem cells twice to use about 150 monkey eggs each time. This number is too great if we hope to use unfertilized eggs, which are difficult to get from women .

(Photo: Sci-tech-today) If future achievement can lower this number to about five to ten eggs for each stem cell collection, 'we will come closer to the applications in the examination. and treatment of diseases, 'said Mitalipov. 'I'm pretty sure this method works for people.' But then a problem arises that stem cells can be used to treat illnesses safely. Mitalipov said he plans to study diabetes in monkeys.

According to him and a number of other scientists, the current work is very valuable because stem cells are proven to be produced by cloning monkeys. This method has been applied to mice, but scientists have been discouraged for a long time after efforts with primates, while studying them is closest to humans.

Earlier announcements were planned in 2007 at an Australian research conference, which received modest attention from the mass media. The results gained the attention of London and Independent .

Dr. George Dalay of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute used to be familiar with the work said in an email to The Associated Press that the feasibility process for primates is ' extremely important evidence. '.

Mitalipov's team made skin cells of a 9-year-old male brown monkey with the female monkey's unfertilized egg. The eggs grow with AND from skin cells quickly into embryos in the laboratory. Stem cells are recovered from these embryos.

Researchers have applied for a Certificate of Monopoly for their process.

Mitalipov said separate experiments using monkey stem cells according to different procedures are called mono reproduction, in which eggs develop into embryos initially without the contribution of male genes . Stem cells carry the genes of offspring that produce eggs and the first experiments show that stem cells separated in this way will one day be useful in treating female diseases.

It was strange when the Nature journal asked a group of separate scientists to examine Mitalipov's asexual reproduction. The magazine also published an examination with Mr. Mitalipov's report.

In an email, the Nature journal cited a 2004 public fraud that occurred in South Korea. A group of researchers led by Hwang Woo-Suk claimed to have produced stem cells. The magazine said that Mitalipov's examination of the results did not have a skepticism but wanted to note that there were always doubts. And 'we consider it a straightforward way to dispel doubts'.

Verification study conducted by David Cram and some other members at Monash University, Australia. They used male monkey DNA analysis and two female monkeys to get eggs to produce embryos and stem cells. The results " firmly confirm " that stem cells are taken from asexual embryos, according to Australian scientists in Nature.