日本的研究人员将小鼠的干细胞转化成为能够在活的小鼠体内产生卵子的生殖细胞。这些卵子接着可通过试管受精而产生可存活的后代。这一研究——与已经对精子所做的研究工作相映照——可能会开启关于雌性生殖细胞的新的了解的大门并对**某种形式的人类不孕症提供新的线索。
Mitinori Saitou及其同事以两类雌性小鼠干细胞作为开始：胚胎干细胞（ESCs）——它们来自早期的胚胎并有发育成为任何胚胎组织类型的潜力——及诱发的多能干细胞（iPSCs）——这些细胞是在成年体细胞被诱导进入多能状态时所产生的细胞。
研究人员对这些细胞中的一些基因进行了修饰，将它们转变成为与原始生殖细胞非常像的细胞。他们接着将这些细胞与雌性小鼠的性腺细胞共同培养，创造了一个“再造的卵巢”，该再造卵巢接着被移植到某个小鼠的卵巢或肾脏。这些细胞在那里接着成熟成为充分生长的卵母细胞。
当研究人员分离出这些成熟的卵母细胞并将其用于小鼠的IVF时，他们制造出了能够生育的小鼠，从而证明小鼠的ESCs和iPSCs可用来产生具有完全功能的卵母细胞。
doi: 10.1126/science.1226889
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Offspring from Oocytes Derived from in Vitro Primordial Germ Cell–Like Cells in Mice
Katsuhiko Hayashi, Sugako Ogushi, Kazuki Kurimoto, So Shimamoto, Hiroshi Ohta, Mitinori Saitou
Reconstitution of female germ-cell development in vitro is a key challenge in reproductive biology and medicine. We show here that female (XX) embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells in mice are induced into primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs), which, when aggregated with female gonadal somatic cells as reconstituted ovaries, undergo X-reactivation, imprint erasure, cyst formation, and exhibit meiotic potential. Upon transplantation under mouse ovarian bursa, PGCLCs in the reconstituted ovaries mature into germinal vesicle-stage oocytes, which then contribute to fertile offspring after in vitro maturation and fertilization. Our culture system serves as a robust foundation for the investigation of key properties of female germ cells, including the acquisition of totipotency, and for the reconstitution of whole female germ-cell development in vitro.
