Researchers claim to have grown human sperm in lab

SCIENTISTS say they have grown mature human sperm in test tubes in a development that could help combat male infertility.

The sperm cells, which have been produced for the first time in a “bioreactor” in a laboratory, are said to look identical to those produced naturally.

According to the scientists at a research institute in Lyon, France, the technology could be ready within four years to help men who are unable to make their own sperm to have biological children.

Sceptics have said the findings cannot be verified until the research is published in a peer-reviewed journal.

A team led by Philippe Durand, scientific director of biotechnology startup Kallistem, claimed to have taken immature sperm cells from the testes of six men who were infertile and developed them in a bioreactor.

“We have completed spermatogenesis – the production of mature sperm cells – in vitro using a bioreactor. We have done it in three different species, rat, monkey and human, which has

never been done before,” he told The

Independent on Sunday.

“It is not possible to discuss details of the research as we have just submitted our study for publication a few days ago, but we have produced a meaningful amount of mature sperm that could be of use clinically,” he added.

Scientists have been searching for a way to produce human sperm that could fertilise human eggs in a test tube for the past 20 years.

Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at Sheffield University, said: “Until I’m able to see the published research I’m deeply sceptical. The picture of the sperm they have published is not convincing. It doesn’t look like a mature sperm, but an elongated cell.”

However, the Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, where the latest development was made, backed the research. It said in a statement that 15,000 young cancer patients around the world left sterile by chemotherapy and 120,000 men whose infertility could not be treated by IVF could now be helped.

“This breakthrough opens the way for therapeutic avenues that have been eagerly awaited by clinicians for many years,” the statement said.