- Human eggs have been successfully grown from earliest developmental stage to full maturity in the lab recently
- Immature eggs recovered from human ovary can be matured in the lab in artificial culture medium
- Women with infertility due to cancer treatments can have their eggs recovered and grown in lab for fertilization at a later date
Improvement From Existing Technology of Growing Human Eggs In The Lab
- In earlier studies, scientists had successfully grown mouse eggs to produce young mice
- Human eggs have been grown in the lab earlier, but after recovering them at a much later stage of development
Scope of the Study
Findings of the study offer enormous scope for young women who become infertile following intensive cancer treatment regimens. If approved for use in the clinical setting, immature eggs could be recovered from the ovaries of these young women, stored and matured in the lab for future use, in particular for fertilization.Conventionally, women who have cancer could have a piece of their ovary removed before treatment, and reimplanted later but there is a possible risk of reintroducing cancer.
- The study gives a better understanding and insight into the growth and development of eggs at various phases, and this knowledge could help future research in this field as well as in regenerative medicine
Plans for the Future
- Optimization of conditions used for egg development and see how healthy they turn out
- Testing whether these lab grown eggs can be successfully fertilized, subject to regulatory approval
How Eggs Develop Within Ovary
Even at birth, the normal female ovary (female gonad) contains about 1-2 million immature eggs. Over her lifetime there is a continuous decline in the total number of eggs each month even before menses occurs. By the time a girl enters puberty, only about 25% of her total egg pool is left, approximately 300,000.After puberty every month under hormonal stimulation several hundred immature eggs begin to develop, but only one dominant egg reaches full maturity and is released during ovulation for fertilization. The other eggs die. The loss of several eggs each month contributes to the decline in the number of eggs until menopause when most of the eggs become depleted.
Future fertility treatments could recover the immature eggs from the woman’s ovary and mature them in the lab in artificial culture media for future use.
References:
- Normal Ovarian Function - (https://www.mcancer.org/fertility-preservation/for-female-patients/normal-ovarian-function)