Carpets that can change old beliefs

2009/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia
• Anatomia/Fisiologia

Oocyte precursor cells found in adult females

An experiment conducted at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China could turn upside down what was so far considered true: that mammals are born with eggs that will create throughout life. The journal Nature Cell Biology has announced that oocyte precursor cells have been extracted from the ovaries of some females.

Until now these pioneering cells were considered only to appear in the embryonic phase. These cells produce cells that become eggs, oocytes. Well, during the experiment, the precursor cells of the oocytes taken from the ovaries of mature mice were transplanted to sterilized mice. The gene that produces fluorescent green protein (GFP) was previously introduced to the cells to ensure its introduction.

Once the cells were introduced, most of the sterilized mice had offspring and a third of the offspring had the fluorescent protein gene. This has shown that adult females have precursor cells of oocytes that have given eggs.

Many scientists unrelated to this research have been very cautious about this news. Many have stated that it is imperative that other research groups repeat the results of China.