A pair of tiny artificial testicles have been created in a lab, which scientists hope will provide solutions to male infertility and improve our understanding of testicular development and function.
Roughly 1 in 12 men of reproductive age in the United States have experienced problems with infertility. But while male infertility can be easily identified, we know very little about the actual causes behind this condition.
"Artificial testicles are a promising model for basic research on testicle development and function, which can be translated into therapeutic applications for disorders of sexual development and infertility," Nitzan Gonen, a senior lecturer at the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, said in a statement.
In a recent study, published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, Gonan's lab successfully created tiny artificial organs called organoids resembling the tubular structures of a natural testicle. Organoids are tiny, artificially grown masses of cells that resemble natural organs and offer novel insights into organ development and disease.
To create these artificial organ-like structures, Gonen and colleagues collected and cultured immature testicular cells from newborn mice. The cells were grown in the lab for nine weeks, which is theoretically long enough for them to complete the process of sperm production and hormone secretion.
The team does not yet know if their artificial testicles can produce sperm, but they did notice signs of early sperm cell production. These structures also resembled the tubular structures present in a natural testicle, where sperm is produced.
This level of maturity is unusual for organoids as most organoids produced to date are made to resemble the embryonic stages of an organ. However, Gonen's team was able to create environmental conditions that allowed the organoids to mature and grow clear sperm tubes.
While mice can provide a useful model for organ development, Gonen hopes in the future to produce these organoids from human samples.
"Development of cancer in pre-pubertal boys followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatments leads to 1 in 3 boys remaining infertile," the authors write. "With 85 percent of young cancer patients surviving to adulthood, this poses a major health concern that needs to be addressed. Currently, no treatments are available to restore male fertility in such patients.
"In this study we developed testicular organoids from mice, but it is highly possible that similar settings could be applied to generate testicular organoids from pre-pubertal boys."
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Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
