Ovarian tissue from aborted human fetuses has been kept alive in the lab, with some cells showing early signs of maturing into fully functional eggs, Israeli scientists have revealed.
Although the possibility remains only theoretical at present, researchers believe it is worth pursuing because there is an acute shortage of donor eggs for women undergoing fertility treatment. If such an egg were used to create a successful pregnancy, the child would have a mother that had never been born.
However, the UK鈥檚 fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, said the use of eggs produced in this way for fertility treatment would be illegal. 鈥淚t would be difficult for any child to come to terms with being created by aborted fetuses,鈥� said HFEA chair Suzi Leather.
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Anti-abortion groups attacked the research, calling it 鈥渕acabre鈥�. Nuala Scarisbrick, of the UK group Life said: 鈥淚t is sickening and disgusting, even by the low standards of reproductive technology.鈥�
The study鈥檚 leader, Tal Biron-Shental, of the Meir Hospital-Sapir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, Israel, defended the work. 鈥淚 am fully aware of the controversy about this, but probably, in some places, it will be ethically acceptable,鈥� she said at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology鈥檚 annual conference in Madrid.
Hormone boost
Biron-Shental and her colleagues took ovarian tissue samples from seven aborted human fetuses, ranging from 22 to 33 weeks鈥� gestation. Fetal ovarian tissue at this age contains mostly 鈥減rimordial follicles鈥�. These contain a human oocyte, the earliest stage of a cell that later develops into an egg.
The team froze the ovarian tissue of the fetuses straight after abortion. Analysis before the cells were cultured revealed that the cells were healthy and had not started to show 鈥渁poptosis鈥�, the process by which cells naturally age and die.
Slices of the ovarian tissue were then cultured in the lab and follicle stimulating hormone was added. The cells were cultured for four weeks and, at the end of each week, samples were removed and tested for a sex hormone called17-beta estradiol.
The fetal follicles not only survived in the lab, but there were 鈥渋dentifiable鈥� and growing levels of 17-beta estradiol throughout the four weeks. In the final week, levels more than doubled from 3.6 to 8.5 pg/ml.
鈥淭he increase indicates viability and development of these follicles during culture,鈥� say the team, who think the estradiol was secreted from 鈥渟econdary follicles鈥� that had developed in the cultured slices. The scientists conclude that ovaries can be taken from human fetuses in this way to produce 鈥渕orphologically healthy, viable follicles鈥�.
Severe abnormalities
However, it has yet to be demonstrated that the further stages of development needed to produce eggs are possible in the lab.
The technique faces numerous other challenges if it is to become viable. Suitable ovarian tissue can only be taken from fetuses after about 16 weeks gestation, but most abortions take place before this making the tissue rare.
Furthermore, many late-stage abortions follow the diagnosis of severe health problems in the fetus, raising questions about the health of any eggs produced. In the Israeli study, six of the seven fetuses had been aborted because of abnormalities.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the immediate reaction from the public and many fertility professionals has been highly negative, suggesting the technique would not be readily accepted.