Sperm created in lab

Widespread coverage has been given to news of test tube sperm being grown in a laboratory. Many newspapers said the research raises hopes that “infertile men may one day be able to father their own biological children” (The Independent). Other newspapers discussed the ethical implications of the research, or asked if this was “the end of men?” (Daily Mirror).

This research is a long way from reaching a stage where sperm produced via this technique could be used to fertilise a human egg. Only a small number of sperm-like cells were produced, and this technique has so far used only stem cells from embryos, not cells from adult males. In addition, many experts have asked whether the sperm-like cells that were produced are actually functioning sperm. The researchers have responded by pointing out that the research was ´proof of principle´, and they will continue to develop this area of research.

The research is definitely a step forward in understanding reproductive biology and germ stem cell development, but it has limited immediate implications in the field of reproductive medicine and fertility treatment. Much more research into the medical, scientific and ethical issues surrounding this contentious issue is needed.

Full Document

Hmmmm

Hmmm ok, that sounds good but...who´s gonna open jars?!

heh heh

And who´s going to get things done  instead of simply talking about it?

Ermmm...??  The women as usual of course.  I´ve not met a man yet who can do something without days, weeks or even months of ´getting round to it´!  (except maybe in major emergency situations like getting the TV fixed in time for some important football/cricket/golf/whatever match! 

What a ridiculous proposition....a World Without Men...do I detect a little hostility here?

I´m shocked at the sexist comments here regarding males.  If the same things were being said about females, there would be an uproar!

"What´s good for the goose is good for the gander"

 Not quite sure where you are finding hostility in a tongue in cheek title to a document that (if you choose to read the document) is about a break through in male fertillity problems.....omg how controvertial!!

Seems the only hostility on this thread is coming from you.......apart from alpha´s threads do you actually like anything else?

It´s a stoning for you missy!

Ok, no more doubts

I think Alameda is the only one who took the "world without men" comment seriously. There´s a great Polish comedy folm called "Sexmission" (no, it´s not THAT kind of film so stop browsing p2p), it´s a comedy where 2 males get experimentally frozen and are to be defrosted in 3 years. Unfortunately due to a war it doesn´t happen until 50 years later. They wake up in a world without men and it´s just a prelude to 1.5hrs of continuous laughter

 Given the fact that there are 24,281 registered members of this site....and only a handfull ever post, I´m inclined to believe the "humor" was most probably lost on more than just me.  Belittling whole groups of people is not a source of humor to me.

However, regarding the original post about alternative treatments for male infertility, there is some pretty provocative research going on now.....not funny IMHO...

The team at the Tottori University in Japan, say they implanted the human cells responsible for producing sperm - spermatogonia - into rat and mice testes in August 1998.

In recent years, grafting of immature testicular tissue into immundeficient mice has been introduced as a strategy to grow and differentiate immature testicular tissue up to the stage of fertile sperm (Honaramooz et al., 2002; Schlatt et al., 1999). Similarly successful was the generation of sperm from xenografts of immature testes from hamster, monkey, bull, pig and cat in mouse hosts (Schlatt et al., 2002a; Snedaker et al., 2004; Honaramooz et al., 2004; Oatley et al., 2005). Spermatogenesis in a xenograft might provide a model for the study of human spermatogenesis and could represent an alternative approach for fertility preservation in cancer patients.

Are you a man or a mouse?

A leading fertility expert plans to produce human sperm using mice.

Roger Short, of the Royal Women´s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, hopes to transplant the germ cells that develop into sperm from human testes into a mouse.