Els científics van imprimir en 3D cèl·lules testiculars humanes

Científics del Canadà de la Columbia Britànica (UBC) utilitzen la tecnologia 3D per imprimir cèl·lules testiculars humanes i descobreixen que tenen els primers signes de l'esperma per produir espermatozoides, que és la primera vegada al món. L'equip d'investigació del doctor Ryan Flannigan, professor adjunt de l'assistent d'urologia de la UBC, disposa d'un-dia, que ofereix una solució als pacients que actualment no poden tractar.

"15 percent of the couple suffer from infertility, at least half of them is caused by male factors." Flannigan said its laboratory established a Vancouver's prostate center in Vancouver General Hospital. We are printing testicular cells into a special structure that imitates the human anatomy with 3D printing technology, which we believe this is the best way to stimulate sperm generation. "Flannigan said, if success, this will open the new birth treatment door for those who have no other choice.

En els testicles humans, l'esperma es produeix per un petit tub anomenat tub fi. En la malaltia d'infertilitat masculina més greu-no-obstructiva no-de l'esperma (NOA), els espermatozoides es troben en l'ejaculació a causa de la reducció d'esperma produïda per aquestes estructures de tubs petits. Encara que en alguns casos, el metge pot ajudar els pacients amb NOA a trobar esperma extremadament rar mitjançant cirurgia, però Flannigan va dir que només la meitat de la taxa d'èxit.

"Unfortunately, for the other half of patients, they have no choices, because we can't find sperm for them." Flannigan said, these is the patient who wants to help. In recent studies, researchers conducted biopsy for testis of NOA patients and collected stem cells. These cells were then cultured, and 3D was printed into a hollow tubular structure on the petri dish, similar to the fine elipes capable of producing sperm.

After 12 days, the research team found that these cells did not only survive, but also growing several special cells participating in sperm production, and there was significant improvements in the maintenance of stem cells - this is the early signs of sperm production capacity. The results of this study were recently published in "Plastic and Infertility Science".

"These cells survive and start differentiation, which is a huge milestone. Although there is still a long way to go, this makes our team full of hope." Flannigan said.

The team is currently committed to the "training" cells producing sperm. In order to do this, they exposed cells in different nutrients and growth factors, and fine-tuned their structural arrangements to promote interaction between cells. If these cells can produce sperm, these sperm may pass through in vitro fertilization Make the egg fertilization and provide a new birth treatment option for the couple.

El projecte de recerca també revela els mecanismes genètics i moleculars que condueixen a NOA. L'equip de Flannigan ha estat utilitzant diverses tècniques de seqüenciació de-cel·lules unicel·lulars per entendre l'expressió gènica i les característiques de cada cèl·lula, i després calcular el model per entendre millor la causa arrel de la malaltia i determinar un nou pla de tractament. Aquest treball també necessita una gran col·laboració, amb la participació d'investigadors de la UBC en informàtica, matemàtiques i enginyeria, i altres cooperacions internacionals.

"We are increasingly learned that infertility may have many different reasons, and every case varies from person to person." Flannigan said, "Considering this, we are taking a personalization, precise Medical Methods - Extracting the cells from the patient, trying to understand its unique abnormal conditions, and then supported by 3D printing to overcome these original defects. "