Many infertile women use hormone replacement therapy to maintain their sexual characteristics. However, the hormone therapy does not replace ovarian tissue function. Since egg production is a function of the ovary, eggs are not produced. The goal of the surgeons experiment was to encourage the ovaries to produce progesterone and estrogen as well as stimulate egg production. They did this by extracting ovarian cells from a female rate and isolated them in a culture of nutrient-dense growth factors for one week. Next, the cells were put into a collagen gel where they were free to grow three-dimensional, rather than on a flat plane.What they observed early on was that immature oocytes were protruding from clusters of ovarian cells. To help the oocytes mature, the surgeons developed a system that would keep them within the ovarian cells. The also found that the cells expressed germ cell markers which occur in early stage eggs. The oocytes began to form a membrane that forms around the ovum as it develops. The surgeons believe that these new oocytes can be matured to a certain point in humans. They would then be put back into the female patient where they could be fertilized naturally or in vitro and planted in the uterus. The woman would also not need any additional hormone replacement therapy.
While they were able to successfully create early stage eggs, much research still needs to be done before this can actually be applied to humans. Regardless, this finding is great news for any woman who is infertile and still wants to bear a child. It is amazing that science can help people in so many ways, this being only one of them.
Wow, what a really interesting article. I'm sure one day they will be able to make the eggs!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I am surprised that the number of infertile women is 10%! Even though that's not a huge percentage, it still sounds pretty high to me. Also, I think this is a great discovery. It would have been nice if the original article mentioned how long the rats and their eggs have been studied for, to get an idea of whether or not the eggs remain fertile and efficient enough to carry out the entire pregnancy. It would be a tremendous relief for many women to know there is still a way of having a child with their DNA even if they were diagnosed infertile.
ReplyDeleteI think that this would be great for woman to have a child with their own DNA even though they were diagnosed infertile. Although it says in the article that surgeons believe these new oocytes can mature to a certain point in humans... does that mean that there is a chance just like any other egg implantation that the egg will not form or attach onto the mother's womb? Also, what are germ cell makers, and how does that affect the egg development? Wouldn't these oocytes be more likely to be rejected from the mother's body since the mother cannot naturally on her own produce oocytes? and if this implantation was successful does this have less risk than any other egg donation because the mother is using her own DNA and not someone else's
ReplyDeleteI think that this would be great for woman to have a child with their own DNA even though they were diagnosed infertile. Although it says in the article that surgeons believe these new oocytes can mature to a certain point in humans… does that mean that there is a chance just like any other egg implantation that the egg will not form or attach onto the mother’s womb? Also, what are germ cell makers, and how does that affect the egg development? Wouldn’t these oocytes be more likely to be rejected from the mother’s body since the mother cannot naturally on her own produce oocytes? and if this implantation was successful does this have less risk than any other egg donation because the mother is using her own DNA and not someone else’s
ReplyDelete