Scientists have successfully coaxed mouse stem cells to develop into functional eggs in a dish – that then grew into baby mice, according to a s

No ovaries required: viable eggs grown in a dish

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2021-07-16 01:30:04

Scientists have successfully coaxed mouse stem cells to develop into functional eggs in a dish – that then grew into baby mice, according to a study published in Developmental Biology.

This has wide implications for assisted reproductive technologies in the future, because it may provide an alternative to egg donors.

A team of researchers, led by Takashi Yoshino of Kyushu University, Japan, developed culture conditions in a petri dish that imitated ovarian follicles to recreate the process that stem cells normally take to turn into eggs, which resulted in viable eggs. They called the lab-grown cells ‘reconstituted Ovarioids’ (rOvarioids).

Pluripotent stem cells are immature but have the potential to become almost any type of cell under the right conditions. In the ovary, these cells can become oocytes, which eventually turn in to eggs.

Normally, oocytes are encapsulated by ovarian cells in a fluid-filled follicle structure that help the oocyte undergo a round of meiosis (a type of cell division) and become an ovum (an egg that can be fertilised).

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