To help combat male infertility, scientists have successfully grown human sperm cells in a test tube (in vitro). The laboratory sperms look and act like naturally-produced specimens.
For over two decades, scientists have been trying to produce human sperm in a test tube.
But now, scientists claim to have successfully grown mature sperm cells in vitro from the germ cells of infertile men using a bioreactor. The process usually takes around 72 days to create a new sperm cell in a human.
The lab-produced fully mature sperm cells are capable of successfully fertilizing eggs.
The breakthrough can help young males who suffer permanent sterility due to cancer treatments and infertile men to have their own biological children.
Although the trials have been successful, the scientists from the French biotechnology start-up Kallistem, in cooperation with a French government lab CNRS, claim that the technology could be ready within four years.
