Breakthrough in the creation of artificial organs: the human ovary
An artificial ovary has been createdDmitry Tselikov, Compulenta
Employees of Brown University and Rhode Island Women's and Children's Hospital (USA) managed to develop the first artificial human ovary.
This is a genuine breakthrough in the study of the ability to reproduce offspring in humans, which opens up new prospects in the treatment and prevention of infertility. The first eggs have already been grown.
"The ovary consists of three main types of cells, and this is also the first time that anyone has been able to create a three–dimensional structure from living tissue using three cell lines," emphasizes Sandra Carson, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical School. Warren Olpert at Brown University and Director of the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Women's and Children's Hospital.
The artificial ovary is not only a laboratory for the study of fundamental issues of the work of this organ, but also a test site for new problems, such as the effect of toxins and other chemicals on the maturation and general condition of the egg.
An almost immediate benefit is to preserve the fertility of women undergoing cancer treatment. Immature eggs can be extracted from the body of patients before chemo and X-ray therapy, frozen and grown in an artificial ovary at the right time.
The technology that made it possible to make the ovary not just a cell culture, but a functioning tissue, was invented by Jeffrey Morgan, an associate professor at Brown University. His so-called three-dimensional petri dishes are made of plastic gel based on agarose. They are the ones that make the cells assemble into a certain shape.
In such cells, the researchers first launched teka cells donated by patients of reproductive age (25-46 years old). At some point, they were followed by granular cells and oocytes. Teka cells wrapped them in just a couple of days, as it should be in the follicle.
The follicle – the structural unit of the ovary – consists of an egg, sequentially surrounded by layers of glycoproteins, granulose (granular) cells, a thin layer of extracellular matrix – the basement membrane and an outer layer consisting of techa cells, from Greek. theke – storage, receptacle, in biology – bag, shell (VM).
But the biggest challenge was the maturation of the eggs. It turned out that the system is able to take care of them, starting from the earliest stage of development.
Above: teka cells in a gel matrix wrap granular cells (GC).
Below: artificial ovarian tissue two (left) and five (right) days later.
(Illustration by the authors of the work.)
The results of an outstanding study are published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics (Stephan P. Krotz et al., In vitro maturation of oocytes via the pre-fabricated self-assembled artificial human ovary).
Prepared based on the materials of PhysOrg: Researchers build 'artificial ovary' to develop oocytes into mature human eggs.
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