Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have made a breakthrough in the field of male fertility.
A team led by Professor Mahmoud Huleihel at the university's Shraga Segan Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Faculty of Health Sciences conducted a study in which they generated spermatozoa from mouse testicular germ cells under in vitro culture.
The research, published online this month in the Asian Journal of Andrology, used a three-dimensional agar culture system (SACS) to generate the sperm. Huleihel pioneered the use of SACS for spermatogenesis in vitro.
“This study may open new therapeutic stragegies for infertile men who cannot generate sperm and/or prepubertal cancer patients at risk of infertility due to aggressive chemo or radiotherapy, and cannot cryosperm as in adult patients,” he said.
The study was performed in cooperation with Professor Eitan Lunenfeld at Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva and Professor Stefan Schlatt at the University of Munster in Germany.