Stem Cells Spur New Eggs in Ovaries of ...( Study upsets notion that females only...),Health

Study upsets notion that females only receive finite number of eggs from birth

SUNDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers in China have demonstrated that female ovaries may be capable of producing new eggs in adulthood and subsequently producing offspring.

That runs counter to the long-held belief that female mammals, including humans, are born with a finite number of the eggs or oocytes needed to produce offspring.

"These stem cells are continuous. They were still around through life and actually transformed to make oocytes. Then they were transplanted into infertile females and produced offspring," said Paul Sanberg, a stem cell researcher and distinguished professor of neurosurgery and director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair in Tampa. "The study is fascinating," said Sanberg, who was not involved in the research.

Could doctors someday use stem cells to help adult women produce brand-new oocytes? One reproductive medicine expert isn't sure.

The new finding is "very, very exciting and opens up a big area of discussion," said Dr. George Attia, associate professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Miami Miller school of Medicine. "If it would ever come to fruition in humans, I really don't know. It's far, far out there," he said.

Another expert was more cautious.

"It's a cute experiment, but I don't think it's going to have anything to do with humans," said Dr. Darwin J. Prockop, director of the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Scott & White. "There are too many steps, too many things could go wrong."

But the findings, published online April 12 in Nature Cell Biology, could still have interesting implications for future stem cell and other research, Prockop added. "Any new kind of cell is interesting," he said.

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