Meosis II murine oocytes developed in vitro from tail-derived iPSCsKATSUHIKO HAYASHI, KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, JAPAN Scientists have for this first time reprogrammed murine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into fully functional oocytes in the laboratory. The paper describing the technique, published today (October 17) in Nature, provides a blueprint to study theprocess of oogenesis, and paves the way to attempt a similar technique using human ESCs and iPSCs.
“This is truly a crowning achievement,” said oocyte biologist David Albertini, director of the Center for Human Reproduction in New York City, who was not involved in the work.
“It’s remarkable that . . . in vitro eggs from mouse stem cells used for reproduction,” Dieter Egli, a regenerative medicine specialist at the New York Stem Cell Foundation and Columbia University who was also not involved in the study wrote in an email to The Scientist.
In mice, oocytes are derived from primordial germ cells (PGCs), which form around day 6.5 of embryonic development. In female embryos, the PGCs make their way to what will turn into the ovary and enter meiosis to form primary oocytes, which begin to mature following puberty. Previously, Katsuhiko Hayashi ...
