Scientists have created artificial mouse sperm in the lab, in a breakthrough which means in five years infertile men may no longer need a sperm donor.
Researchers grew viable sperm in a petrie dish using mouse germ cells, which are found in testicles and are responsible for sperm production. For the first time the sperm they grew was free of genetic abnormalities so it could have been used to create healthy baby mice.
This is an amazing development that could revolutionise fertility treatment and allow every man to be a natural father.
Stephen Gordon, male infertility specialist
While sperm donation allows couples to have a child they long for, men can find it hard to get over the sense of loss at being unable to have a child who’s genetically related to them. Treatment for infertility is not the same as a cure, but this could alleviate one of the hardest issues to get over.
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James says:
January 23, 2012 at 7:45 am (UTC 0)
Hi Ngdt,
Neat Post, Ladies!
Would you ever go to a Sperm Bank?
Like, if you were older and didn’t have a life partner…would you use one and raise a kid of your own from a Sperm donor?
Are Sperm Bank’s redundant nowadays? If a chick really wants to get knocked-up she just goes sleeps with a random bar-hookup and rake in the Child Support later!!
Nice One!
gametedonation says:
January 29, 2012 at 8:01 pm (UTC 0)
Hi there James. There are lots of reasons to prefer sperm donors to random strangers. For couples, where the man might be infertile due to mumps or another health condition, they usually want to stay faithful to each other. Some women are lesbians who aren’t really up for the whole sex-with-men thing.
And it’s harder to get pregnant than you might think – before the age of 35 you’re often told to try for at least one year and sometimes two. That’s a lot of random hookups with strangers – and not everyone wants that kind of arrangement even assuming you can time your nights out around ovulation and persuade the unsuspecting victim not to use a condom, putting yourself at risk of nasty diseases. Then there’s all the stress of arranging childcare contact with someone who resents you. Really not the best idea!