Deriving Pluripotent Stem Cells from Sperm?
Deriving Pluripotent Stem Cells from Sperm?
In new research announced yesterday on EurekAlert, scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern have begun work attempting to derive embryonic-like stem cells from rat sperm stem cells. They have derived methods that keep the sperm stem cells from differentiating into sperm, and have also successfully frozen and then thawed and transplanted the sperm stem cells.
Besides being able to “push back” the stem cells into pluripotent stem cells, the researchers see the possibility of such things as male contraceptives and new ways to genetically modify laboratory animals. The scientists used a new medium to grow the cells in, and also used a genetically manipulated "tag" that specifically labeled germ cells with a green fluorescent protein.
A future step is to find out whether human male sperm stem cells can be “immortalized” in culture.
If pluripotent stem cells could be derived from sperm, would they face the same objections that stem cells derived from eggs do and be considered human life?
2 Comments:
Anne - Take a look at primegenbiotech.com. Press release today on successful human adult-derived pluripotent stem cell presented at Kyoto germ cell conference
Thanks for the referene. Here is the full link to the PDF document for other readers: http://primegenbiotech.com./news/PrimeGenPR02.pdf.
The release says that the company is "reprogramming germ line cells," which naturally form only gametes.
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