In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
Special Rat Sperm
mateomasfeo
Member Posts: 27,143
Rats Born to Mice in Bizarre Lab Work
By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
posted: 28 August 2006
05:00 pm ET
In lab rats, "Who's your daddy?" can now yield a surprising answer. Scientists have generated rats from mice that developed rat sperm.
The breakthrough marks the first time researchers produced healthy offspring [Photo] from sperm cells fostered in a different species. The hope is this method could help generate sperm from endangered species or prize bulls.
A decade ago, scientists successfully developed sperm in one animal that had come from cells in another. Researchers began by growing rat sperm in mice, and proceeded to foster sperm from hamsters, rabbits, pigs, bulls and humans in mice as well.
However, until now it remained unknown whether any of these sperm were fertile. In several instances they developed abnormally in their foreign hosts.
The breakthrough
Reproductive biologist Takashi Shinohara at Kyoto University in Japan and his colleagues first began with rats genetically engineered to produce a green fluorescent protein. Their cells and progeny would thus prove easy to recognize. Shinohara and his colleagues then removed the stem cells that sperm arise from in the rats and implanted them into testicles of mice.
The scientists collected fluorescent green rat sperm from the mice and injected them into rat eggs. Successfully fertilized eggs were transferred into surrogate rat mothers.
None of the fluorescent green rat pups born-yes, they are really green-displayed any abnormalities, genetic or otherwise. Moreover, they grew up to become fertile adults.
Breeders use sperm taken from prize livestock to produce offspring that hopefully possess the same valuable traits. Scientists also use sperm to help endangered species generate progeny. The hope is that mice or other lab animals can grow sperm of livestock or endangered species while "saving space, food and in general being easier to take care of," Shinohara told LiveScience.
Human applications
The capability this opens up to study human sperm generated using this method could lead to novel contraceptives, Shinohara added, or in studying what contaminants are toxic to male reproduction.
While this breakthrough raises the possibility of growing human sperm in other animals to generate viable human offspring, "it is not a good idea," Shinohara said. Besides the ethical issues, he noted there are viruses present in animals that could write themselves into genetic codes of the human sperm.
Shinohara and his colleagues reported their findings online Aug. 28 via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
posted: 28 August 2006
05:00 pm ET
In lab rats, "Who's your daddy?" can now yield a surprising answer. Scientists have generated rats from mice that developed rat sperm.
The breakthrough marks the first time researchers produced healthy offspring [Photo] from sperm cells fostered in a different species. The hope is this method could help generate sperm from endangered species or prize bulls.
A decade ago, scientists successfully developed sperm in one animal that had come from cells in another. Researchers began by growing rat sperm in mice, and proceeded to foster sperm from hamsters, rabbits, pigs, bulls and humans in mice as well.
However, until now it remained unknown whether any of these sperm were fertile. In several instances they developed abnormally in their foreign hosts.
The breakthrough
Reproductive biologist Takashi Shinohara at Kyoto University in Japan and his colleagues first began with rats genetically engineered to produce a green fluorescent protein. Their cells and progeny would thus prove easy to recognize. Shinohara and his colleagues then removed the stem cells that sperm arise from in the rats and implanted them into testicles of mice.
The scientists collected fluorescent green rat sperm from the mice and injected them into rat eggs. Successfully fertilized eggs were transferred into surrogate rat mothers.
None of the fluorescent green rat pups born-yes, they are really green-displayed any abnormalities, genetic or otherwise. Moreover, they grew up to become fertile adults.
Breeders use sperm taken from prize livestock to produce offspring that hopefully possess the same valuable traits. Scientists also use sperm to help endangered species generate progeny. The hope is that mice or other lab animals can grow sperm of livestock or endangered species while "saving space, food and in general being easier to take care of," Shinohara told LiveScience.
Human applications
The capability this opens up to study human sperm generated using this method could lead to novel contraceptives, Shinohara added, or in studying what contaminants are toxic to male reproduction.
While this breakthrough raises the possibility of growing human sperm in other animals to generate viable human offspring, "it is not a good idea," Shinohara said. Besides the ethical issues, he noted there are viruses present in animals that could write themselves into genetic codes of the human sperm.
Shinohara and his colleagues reported their findings online Aug. 28 via the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Comments
The scientists collected fluorescent green rat sperm .
anything exciting at work today, honey?
Green fluorescent protein-transgenic rat: a tool for organ transplantation research.
Hakamata Y, Tahara K, Uchida H, Sakuma Y, Nakamura M, Kume A, Murakami T, Takahashi M, Takahashi R, Hirabayashi M, Ueda M, Miyoshi I, Kasai N, Kobayashi E.
Center for Molecular Medicine, Jichi Medical School, Kawachi, Tochigi, Japan.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic rats for use as a tool for organ transplantation research. The GFP gene construct was designed to express ubiquitously. By flow cytometry, the cells obtained from the bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood of the GFP transgenic rats consisted of 77, 91, and 75% GFP-positive cells, respectively. To examine cell migration of GFP-positive cells after organ transplantation, pancreas graft with or without spleen transplantation, heart graft with or without lung transplantation, auxiliary liver and small bowel transplantation were also performed from GFP transgenic rat to LEW (RT1(1)) rats under a 2-week course of 0.64 mg/kg tacrolimus administration. GFP-positive donor cells were detected in the fully allogenic LEW rats after organ transplantation. These results showed that GFP transgenic rat is a useful tool for organ transplantation research such as cell migration study after organ transplantation without donor cell staining. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.
Wonder if it has anything to do with this research?
Green fluorescent protein-transgenic rat: a tool for organ transplantation research.
Hakamata Y, Tahara K, Uchida H, Sakuma Y, Nakamura M, Kume A, Murakami T, Takahashi M, Takahashi R, Hirabayashi M, Ueda M, Miyoshi I, Kasai N, Kobayashi E.
Center for Molecular Medicine, Jichi Medical School, Kawachi, Tochigi, Japan.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic rats for use as a tool for organ transplantation research. The GFP gene construct was designed to express ubiquitously. By flow cytometry, the cells obtained from the bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood of the GFP transgenic rats consisted of 77, 91, and 75% GFP-positive cells, respectively. To examine cell migration of GFP-positive cells after organ transplantation, pancreas graft with or without spleen transplantation, heart graft with or without lung transplantation, auxiliary liver and small bowel transplantation were also performed from GFP transgenic rat to LEW (RT1(1)) rats under a 2-week course of 0.64 mg/kg tacrolimus administration. GFP-positive donor cells were detected in the fully allogenic LEW rats after organ transplantation. These results showed that GFP transgenic rat is a useful tool for organ transplantation research such as cell migration study after organ transplantation without donor cell staining. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.
Yes, it doesn't.
what next, mice will be running around with human sperm?
does the sperm have the genitic markers of some individual?
is this just too much?
looks to me like someone wanted their grant money and yet another way of bilking taxpayers for worthless science