There may finally be hope for infertile men that want to reproduce in this lifetime. Sperm has been reproduced in Japanese laboratories and is helping scientists understand better how sperm forms and therefore, how to engineer it or devise new treatments. It may also help young men with cancer that are undergoing chemotherapy and entering puberty to save their fertility abilities often loss in the invasive treatment.
The mouse sperm was produced in a test tube from the cells taken from newborn mouse testicles, and then injected into eggs to produce to twelve healthy babies, four male and eight female, which were all fertile and able to have their own babies in adulthood.
The potential practical applications in humans would include treating infertility, which affects an estimated 8 to 12% of the male population.
One group in particular that stands to benefit is young boys undergoing cancer treatment. One side effect of chemotherapy is “invariably” infertility. Adults may be able to freeze their own sperm for future use when they undergo radiation, but boys don’t have that option.
By taking a biopsy of the prepubescent testicular tissue and freezing it just after the spermatogenesis process, there may be a way to grow functioning sperm for future in vitro fertilization.
Spermatogenesis is a complex process whereby primitive stem cells or spermatogonia, either divide to reproduce themselves for stem cell renewal or they divide to produce daughter cells that will later become spermatocytes. The spermatocytes eventually divide and give rise to mature cell lines that eventually give rise to spermatids. The spermatids then undergo a transformation into a spermatozoa. This transformation includes nuclear condensation, acrosome formation, loss of most of the cytoplasm, development of a tail and arrangement of the mitochondria into the middle piece of the sperm which basically becomes the engine room to power the tail.
Groups of germ cells tend to develop and pass through spermatogenesis together. This sequence of developing germ cells is called a generation. These generations of germ cells are basically in the same stage of development. The duration of the entire spermatogenic cycle in humans is 4.6 cycles times 16 days equals 74 days.
This new lab technique could also protect the reproductive potential of endangered animals that may die before reaching sexual maturity.
Approximately 15% of couples attempting their first pregnancy meet with failure. Most authorities define these patients as primarily infertile if they have been unable to achieve a pregnancy after one year of unprotected intercourse. Conception normally is achieved within twelve months in 80-85% of couples who use no contraceptive measures, and persons presenting after this time should therefore be regarded as possibly infertile and should be evaluated. Data available over the past twenty years reveal that in approximately 30% of cases pathology is found in the man alone, and in another 20% both the man and woman are abnormal. Therefore, the male factor is at least partly responsible in about 50% of infertile couples.
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Written by Sy Kraft, B.A.