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Research: Children "without fathers and mothers" is a matter of time |
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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 08 November 2009 |
 American scientists from Stanford University in California have succeeded in creating in the laboratory, the cells that give rise to male and female sperm. These studies may completely change the concept of parenthood. Results of experiments are published on the magazine Nature.
With the help of embryonic stem cells taken from embryos created by artificial insemination scientists succeeded in producing cell precursors, which formed the sperm and ova. Researchers stress that the resulting spermatozoa with heads and short tails, and are so advanced that they would be able to fertilize an ovum. While eggs are produced at an earlier stage of development, but much more advanced than those from previous studies. Researchers stress that they have achieved something to which the whole scientific world, sought for a long time - see the development of human gametes in the laboratory. This may contribute to understanding the causes of infertility and multiple congenital defects, and in turn to develop effective methods for their treatment. The main author of the study, Rita Reijo Pera of Stanford's Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research believes that new drugs should have to wait about five years. At the same time, however, several studies have raised moral and ethical controversy. Indeed, the problem is that the production of sperm and ova in the laboratory offers the potential for children "without mothers and fathers - in the process of completely artificial. Critics point out that such actions will lead you in the future to redefine the conditions prevailing in the family.
Despite these controversies, researchers are already planning the next phase of experiments. This time we want to see whether a similar effect can be obtained from the induced stem cells, ie those which can be obtained from the reprogramming of adult cells in the body, such as skin. This would imply that it retrieved a piece of sterile individuals can be transformed into cell infections.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 November 2009 )
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