Chinese scientists have developed functioning sperms from mice in a lab, which when injected into female mice eggs was able to produce a normal offspring. This is a major breakthrough that might help address infertility.

The researchers revealed that their finding may lead towards possible therapies for humans. This could also aid boys, whose fertility problems are damaged as a result of infectious diseases like mumps, cancer treatment side effects, or any abnormal conditions that may lead to difficulties in producing sperms.

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Experts, however, stressed that there is a long way to go to make it applicable to humans, but it is marked as a new development in efforts to treat male infertility one day. If proven safe for human use, "our platform could potentially generate fully functional sperm for artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization techniques," Nanjing Medical University co-senior study author Jiahao Sha said.

Normally, creating sperms in the testes is a long, complicated process and usually takes more than a month to finish in mammals. But the Chinese scientists were able to reproduce the same feat in the lab.

Researchers got a stem cell derived from mouse embryos and then used them to produce immature sperm-like cells or spermatids. They exposed these mouse embryonic stem cells to a chemical cocktail, coaxing the cells to become primordial germ cells.

These germs cells, which are like precursor cells that can turn into other types of cells, were then exposed to testicular cells and sex hormones like testosterone. Being exposed to this environment, germs cells were then converted into "sperm-like cells with correct nuclear DNA and chromosomal content," the study stated.

These sperm-like cells were then introduced into mouse egg cells, forming embryos that were then injected into female mice. The impregnated female mice was then able to produce offsprings that later mated and gave birth to the next generation.

Despite the latest development, researchers admitted further work is needed to rule out possible risks and ethical concerns over the use of embryonic cells. Scientists have also pointed out that not everything that biologically works in mice can be easily translated into humans.

The team is composed of co-senior authors Qi Zhou and Xiao-Yang Zhao from the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Their work has been published in the peer reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell.

Tagschina, sperm cells, male infertility