Scientists use primate stem cells to grow sperm cells

This study, recently published in the journal Fertility and Sterility Science, shows for the first time that primate embryonic stem cells can produce functional sperm cells in a petri dish

The head of the study, Charles Easley, an associate professor at the University of Georgia School of Public Health, said: "This is a major breakthrough in the study of stem cell-based therapies that can treat male infertility.

The researchers used rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells to produce immature sperm cells, that is, round sperm cells.

Easley said that scientists have been able to use mouse stem cells to create sperm-like cells, but the sperm production of rodents is very different from that of humans

"This is the first step to show the potential for translatability of this technology

Rhesus monkeys have similar reproductive mechanisms to humans, which makes them "an ideal and necessary model for exploring stem cell-based male infertility treatments," the author wrote

The researchers used a new method to differentiate these cells into immature sperm cells, the round sperm cells

This fall, researchers plan to take the next critical step, implanting these embryos into surrogate rhesus monkeys to test whether these embryos from in vitro sperm can produce healthy babies

If this step is successful, the team will use sperm-like cells extracted from macaque skin cells to perform the same process

Collaborators include Jon Hennebold of the National Primate Research Center of Oregon and Kyle Orwig and Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh

Journal Reference :

1. Sujittra Khampang, In Ki Cho, Kanchana Punyawai, Brittany Gill, Jacqueline N.