Human eggs created from skin cells for the first time

(Dan Tri) - Scientists have achieved a breakthrough, creating healthy human egg cells from skin cells.

This undated image, provided by the Mitalipov Laboratory at Oregon Health and Science University, shows a microscopic image of a human egg containing a nucleus taken from a skin cell (photo: AP).

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, detailed how US scientists created a human egg cell, known as an oocyte, by isolating the nucleus of a skin cell and implanting it into a donor egg that lacks a nucleus.

The process is seen as a breakthrough in infertility treatment for older women without eggs and opens up the revolutionary concept of a healthy egg cell derived from male DNA.

"This allows older women, or women who are unable to produce eggs for any reason (such as cancer treatment), to have biologically related children," said study co-author Dr. Paula Amato of Oregon Health and Science University. "It also allows same-sex couples (such as two men) to have biologically related children to both of them."

After the skin cell nucleus was implanted into the donated egg, the egg still failed to survive because it contained a full 46 chromosomes, instead of 23, the correct number of human eggs.

The scientists then applied a mild electric pulse and chemical treatment to remove half the chromosomes from that egg, leaving the right number of chromosomes for reproduction.

This removal process is a crucial step that has never been done before by humans, according to the London Times.

Researchers hope that this newly developed procedure could offer a viable treatment for infertility (photo: Getty Images).

So far, none of these engineered cells have been able to produce embryos due to chromosomal abnormalities, but the researchers believe the technique can be improved.

This can be considered a milestone towards the goal of in vitro gametogenesis, or the creation of healthy eggs and sperm from normal body cells. However, to bring this method into clinical application, we still need a lot of time.

“At this stage, this is only a proof of concept and further studies are needed to ensure efficacy and safety before future clinical application,” the researchers said.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/lan-dau-tien-trung-nguoi-duoc-tao-ra-tu-te-bao-da-20251003040428773.htm