Scientists have made primitive forms of artificial sperm and eggs in a medical feat that could transform the understanding of age-related diseases and fertility problems.

科學(xué)家已于近日制造出人造精子和卵子的雛形。這一醫(yī)療壯舉有望轉(zhuǎn)變?nèi)藗儗?duì)于年齡相關(guān)疾病和生育問題的認(rèn)識(shí)。

Researchers in Cambridge made the early-stage sex cells by culturing human embryonic stem cells under carefully-controlled conditions for a week.

劍橋大學(xué)的研究人員選取了人類胚胎干細(xì)胞，在嚴(yán)格控制實(shí)驗(yàn)環(huán)境的情況下通過一周的試驗(yàn)，終于培育出早期的生殖細(xì)胞。

They followed the success by showing that the same procedure can convert adult skin tissue into precursors for sperm and eggs, raising the prospect of making sex cells that are genetically matched to patients.

在取得初步成功后，研究人員認(rèn)為同樣的程序能夠?qū)⒊扇似つw組織培育成精子和卵子的前體細(xì)胞。應(yīng)用這一研究成果則有望培育出與不孕不育癥患者基因相匹配的生殖細(xì)胞，治療不孕不育癥的前景也因此被看好。

The cells should have the potential to grow into mature sperm and eggs, though this has never been done in the lab before. The next step for the researchers will be to inject the cells into mouse ovaries or testes to see if they fully develop in the animals.

科學(xué)家認(rèn)為，盡管這項(xiàng)研究還從未在實(shí)驗(yàn)室中完成過，但他們相信這些早期生殖細(xì)胞能夠成長為成熟的精子和卵子。研究項(xiàng)目的下一步，將是把早期生殖細(xì)胞注射到實(shí)驗(yàn)小鼠的生殖器官中，并觀察它們能否發(fā)育完全。

British law prohibits fertility clinics in the UK from using artificial sperm and eggs to treat infertile couples. But if the law was revised, skin cells could potentially be taken from patients and turned into genetically identical sperm or eggs for use in IVF therapies.

英國法律禁止生育診所使用人造精子和卵子對(duì)不孕不育夫婦進(jìn)行治療。但是如果對(duì)法律進(jìn)行修訂，就可以將病人的皮膚細(xì)胞轉(zhuǎn)化為與其基因相同的生殖細(xì)胞，之后則采用試管嬰兒療法。

Skin cells from a woman could only be used to make eggs because they lack the Y chromosome. Those from a male might theoretically be turned into eggs as well as sperm, but Azim Surani, who led the work at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, said that on the basis of current knowledge, that was unlikely.

理論上講，由于女性皮膚細(xì)胞沒有Y型染色體，只能用來制造卵子；而男性皮膚細(xì)胞既可以轉(zhuǎn)換成卵子，又能成為精子。此次研究由劍橋大學(xué)古爾登研究所（the Gurdon Institute）的阿齊姆·蘇倫尼（Azim Surani）領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。但他表示，在現(xiàn)有的醫(yī)學(xué)基礎(chǔ)上，這一想法還很難實(shí)現(xiàn)。

Researchers have made sperm and eggs from rodent stem cells before but have struggled do the same with human cells. In 2012, Japanese scientists created mouse eggs from stem cells and used them to make baby mice. Three years earlier, scientists at Newcastle University claimed to have made human sperm from stem cells, but their scientific paper was retracted amid allegations of plagiarism. In 2002, US researchers produced male and female mouse pups from male stem cells.

研究人員先前曾用嚙齒動(dòng)物的干細(xì)胞制造精卵，但在人類細(xì)胞相關(guān)研究的過程卻無比艱難。2012年，日本科學(xué)家利用老鼠干細(xì)胞培育生殖細(xì)胞，并以此繁衍出新生老鼠。2009年，紐卡斯?fàn)柎髮W(xué)（New castle University）的科學(xué)家就聲稱用人類干細(xì)胞培育出了精子，但所發(fā)論文涉嫌抄襲，被迫撤回。而早在2002年，美國科學(xué)家就用雄性老鼠干細(xì)胞培育出小老鼠。

（翻譯：490252028 編輯：Helen）