A woman’s skin cells can help in fertilization – the technology could revolutionize the treatment of infertility

Unintentional childlessness is also becoming more common in Finland.

Roughly 15 percent all couples suffer from infertility at some point in their lives.

Many get help from fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization. However, if the use of the own gametes of those who want to become parents is not possible, the alternatives run out.

In this case, the couple can rely on gametes received from a donor. They do not contain the genetic material, i.e. the chromosomes, of the person wishing to become a parent.

Now a new method is being developed in the United States. In that case, the child could receive what he inherited from both parents when they wish for a child.

However, the donor egg would still be used in fertility treatment.

If the technology is successful, it could revolutionize infertility treatments.

American Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University are developing a methodwhere the chromosomes of the parents’ skin cells are transferred to the donor egg. The egg cell’s own chromosomes have been removed before that.

The researchers fertilized the egg with the donor’s sperm. They then followed the development of the embryos thus created.

“When it comes to infertility treatments, the technology is still in its infancy. But this is the first demonstration that the chromosomes of a human skin cell can go through the unique reduction division of an egg, just like the chromosomes of an egg,” says the academy researcher Sanna Vuoristo from the University of Helsinki.

In subtractive division, the chromosome number of the fertilized egg is halved. That leaves one human chromosome, i.e. 23 chromosomes.

In their experiments, the researchers succeeded in imitating the reduction distribution of conventional fertilization in a culture dish.

Then they tested with different methods how the egg cell would be activated.

“The ovum was best activated when it was stimulated together with an electric pulse and a certain small-molecule compound, and when it was also fertilized with a donor’s sperm,” says Vuoristo.

When the egg was fertilized by a sperm, the egg was activated. So it was able to start subtractive distribution.

Thus a large part of the human embryos created did not survive beyond the beginning in the experiments. However, a small part, nine percent, developed into a germinal vesicle.

The experiments were stopped on the sixth day of embryo development. It is the stage in embryo development where, in test tube fertilization, the embryo follicle is transferred to the uterus at the latest.

“Despite the fact that subtractive division had started, clear signs of chromosomal abnormalities were observed in the embryos,” says Vuoristo.

This is because the extra chromosomal material was separated and removed more or less randomly, he explains.

Technical refining can take years, perhaps as long as 10 to 15 years, the researchers say.

“We are now improving the separation of chromosomes,” said a specialist in gynecology and reproductive endocrinology at Oregon Health and Science University Paula Amato website, according to Sciencealert.

The method could be helpful for women who do not have their own healthy eggs.

The technology might also help male and female couples to have a child who would carry the inheritance from both parents.

Research published by the scientific journal Nature Communications.