Lab hails test-tube sperm

SINGAPORE – The world is used to test-tube babies, but scientists in Singapore are claiming a world first: test-tube sperm.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore have succeeded in growing fish sperm, but the pioneering technique could in time be used to help treat infertility in men, the Straits Times reported. “Because of the similarities between fish and mammals, the findings point to the ability to replicate the work in mammals, and obtain sperm under these conditions to treat male infertility,” Associated Professor Hong Yunhan, who led the research, told the paper.Hong was unavailable for comment Saturday, but Professor Hew Choy Leong, head of the school of biological sciences where Hong’s team worked, told The Associated Press that the new work could eventually extend to treating human infertility.The technique could also be used in agricultural breeding programs to reproduce sperm in bulk from animals with desired traits, the newspaper said.Hong worked on medaka – tiny freshwater swimmers that are just 4 centimetres long but that produce sperm in a similar way to mammals, the paper reported.Sperm is produced by a unique and rare type of stem cell, dubbed spermatogonia, it reported.The researchers succeeded in growing a colony of the fishes’ sperm stem cells in their laboratory for two years, changing them into mature, swimming sperm, the paper said.”This cell line is a major breakthrough,” Sophie Pison-Rousseaux, a researcher at France’s Institut Albert Boniot, told the paper.- Nampa-AP”Because of the similarities between fish and mammals, the findings point to the ability to replicate the work in mammals, and obtain sperm under these conditions to treat male infertility,” Associated Professor Hong Yunhan, who led the research, told the paper.Hong was unavailable for comment Saturday, but Professor Hew Choy Leong, head of the school of biological sciences where Hong’s team worked, told The Associated Press that the new work could eventually extend to treating human infertility.The technique could also be used in agricultural breeding programs to reproduce sperm in bulk from animals with desired traits, the newspaper said.Hong worked on medaka – tiny freshwater swimmers that are just 4 centimetres long but that produce sperm in a similar way to mammals, the paper reported.Sperm is produced by a unique and rare type of stem cell, dubbed spermatogonia, it reported.The researchers succeeded in growing a colony of the fishes’ sperm stem cells in their laboratory for two years, changing them into mature, swimming sperm, the paper said.”This cell line is a major breakthrough,” Sophie Pison-Rousseaux, a researcher at France’s Institut Albert Boniot, told the paper.- Nampa-AP