Japanese Scientists Develop Sperm in Culture

Researchers at the Yokohama City University have successfully made fertile mouse sperm from immature mouse testicles in a culture dish. This is considered a major breakthrough because many reproductive biologists have been trying to accomplish this for almost a century. Takehiko Ogawa and collegues from the University discovered that the key to getting sperm through meiosis depends on a simple change to standard culture conditions. After several trials and errors, the test became successful when they changed the fetal bovine serum with KnockOut Serum Replacement, a serum-free medium often used to grow embryonic cells. This technique could help reveal the molecular steps involved in sperm formation and potential treatments for male infertility.

Read the original news article at http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110323/full/news.2011.179.html.