Science Japanese scientists use iPS cells to mass-generate sperm, egg precursors

The scientists hope their findings will eventually lead to the production of eggs and sperm that are generated from "primordial germ cells" through "pro-spermatogonia" and "oogonia." The team had already developed a scheme to generate reproductive cells by using somatic cells of mice and culturing oogonia, but it was deemed inefficient. This time, the team succeeded in developing oogonia and pro-spermatogonia in two months by using primordial germ cell-like cells and adding bone morphogenetic protein signaling. During a cultural period of about four months, the number of cells rose 10 billion times, and the generation process was relatively simple, the researchers said.

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