Tissue Breakthrough Could Aid Fertility

Tissue Breakthrough Could Aid Fertility

Scientists have found a technique that could one day make it possible to freeze immature human eggs in a similar way to sperm, allowing women undergoing cancer treatment to retain eggs to be matured and used in later life.

Researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois engineered supportive capsules to allow immature mouse follicles to mature in the lab. The eggs produced were fertilized and put back into a female mouse to produce healthy offspring.

It worked because the gel capsules allow the follicles to grow in three dimensions. Lead researcher Teresa Woodruff told the New Scientist, "When follicles are grown on flat plastic in the lab, the follicle cells tend to separate from the immature egg cell – that's a problem since they provide all of its nutrients."

Mouse follicles grown in this two-dimensional fashion typically have a low fertilization rate – about 1% to 5%, says Woodruff. "It's so low no one's really tried with humans yet," she adds. Her team fertilized eggs from at least 70% of their follicles, and have started trying their technique on both primate and human follicles.

Gulam Bahadur, a fertility specialist and researcher at University College in London says finding a way to mature human follicles in the lab for use in IVF treatment would be a major breakthrough for women undergoing cancer treatments that destroy fertility. "Currently we have to create embryos, or take ovarian tissue to be re-implanted," he says. "Being able to freeze immature follicles instead is something a lot of researchers are interested in."

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