Japanese Scientists Grow Baby Mice From The Skin Cells Of Their Mother

It sounds like a story straight from the fingers of a science fiction novelist, but researchers have generated healthy mouse pups from the skin cells (not the egg cells) of their mother.

In case you missed fifth-grade anatomy, reproduction in mammals typically occurs when one egg cell and one sperm cell meet. However, new research from Japan describes an experiment in which the skin cell from a mouse’s tail was transformed into an egg cell. Those egg cells were then matured in a laboratory dish, fertilized, and implanted in a female mouse.

It’s also worth noting that only 1 percent of cells led to live births. However, of those born alive, the animals were healthy, fertile, and lived a normal lifespan, according to Katsuhiko Hayashi, a stem cell biologist at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. Hayashi is the senior author of a paper on the research, published last week in Nature.

The research is still in its early stages and requires quite a bit of growth before it’s ready to go anywhere, but the potential is unlimited. This could extend the fertility of humans by decades. Women without egg cells and men without sperm could now become parents through their skin cells. This technology could also help save endangered animal species produce more rapidly and allow for same-sex couples to produce biological children.

There’s quite a bit of research to be conducted before scientists are ready to use this technology on human subjects, but we could face a future where human beings can be grown just as often as they are born.

Does this technology fill you with fear for the future or hope for future generations?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments and please SHARE this fascinating discovery with a fellow lover of science.

[Featured Image: Getty]

Japanese Scientists Grow Baby Mice From The Skin Cells Of Their Mother is an article from: LifeDaily