Scientists grow sperm in laboratory for first time
HUMAN sperm cells have been grown in a laboratory for the first time, in a breakthrough that could lead to a treatment for male infertility, scientists have claimed.
A French firm said it had successfully produced sperm from basic reproduction cells – a process which takes around 72 days inside the human body.
The research has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal and experts greeted the news with caution. However, if proven the achievement would be a significant breakthrough.
The Kallistem laboratory in the eastern French city of Lyon said its finding “paves the way for innovative ther- apies to preserve and restore male fertility”.
“At the end of last year the company was able to produce fully formed human spermatozoa [sperm cells] in the laboratory setting, using patient testicular biopsies containing only immature germ cells, or spermatogonia,” the company said in a statement.
Spermatogenesis, the process through which the basic reproduction cells – the germ cells – develop into spermatozoa, is an extremely complex one.
The researchers said their research could provide a solution to tens of thousands of men suffering from non- obstructive azoospermia – or abnormal sperm production, rendering them infertile.
As a result of their work experts would be able to extract reproductive cells from a man’s testes and then freeze them until he wishes to father a child, the firm said. Previously, lab-created spermatogenesis had only been successful in mice.
However, Professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, Allan Pacey, urged couples to treat the announcement with caution.
He said: “This is a bold claim to make and we have had our fingers burnt before.
“Until I see a peer-reviewed scientific publication showing unequivocally that this has been done, I have to remain sceptical.”
“Claims like this can often cause heartache for infertile couples who see them as hope only to have their hopes dashed later when it doesn’t translate into an available procedure,” he said.
Kallistem – which is trying to raise funding for its ongoing research – will hold preclinical trials until 2016 and clinical trials in 2017.
“If it works, this procedure opens great prospects,” Nathalie Rives, the manager of a fertility clinic told Le Figaro.
However she warned that adults suffering from a complete lack of sperm might have “genetic anomalies” which could exclude them from the process.
Professor Israel Nisand, co-founder of the European Bioethics Forum said the procedure was preferable to reproductive cloning. – The Telegraph