Three unusual reproductive technologies, with which the future lies

It has been 44 years since IVF technology was first introduced in the world. All this time, reproductive technologies did not stand still and continued their development and improvement. And today we will tell you about three interesting innovations in this area. So far, they seem too fantastic, but it is quite possible that they will become a reality in the near future.

Babies made from stem cells

It is well known that it is necessary to fuse together eggs and sperm to obtain an embryo. But more and more scientists succeeded in creating embryos without the use of germ cells. How is this possible? It is possible with the help of stem cells.

So, scientists can already boast of successful experiments in which they managed to obtain sperm from embryonic stem cells or achieve the birth of healthy cubs after artificial eggs fertilization. But at the moment, all the studies, firstly, require a lot of refinement, and secondly, they were carried out involving only animal cells.

Pregnancy in men

The first experiments in this area belong to Chinese scientists. At the initial stage, they artificially joined a male and female rat and combined their blood flows (such single organism is called a parabiont).

Then the parabiont received a womb transplanted from another rat and embryos implanted in it. In almost 10% of parabionts, the pregnancy was established and began to develop successfully. But can this experiment be considered a male pregnancy if the transplanted womb belongs to the female? The question remains open.

Although there are other data in this area, for example, how a male mouse carried an embryo in his testes for 12 days.

An artificial womb

The process of childbearing outside the uterus is called ectogenesis. Scientists have done a lot of research in this area, which can be mostly considered successful.

So, in 2017, scientists from Philadelphia kept sheep embryos in special biobags, simulating the uterus, for 4 weeks. The embryos were removed from the mother's uterus at 23-24 weeks and placed in special bags, in which they successfully matured and were born after 4 weeks. And this is encouraging news because pregnancy in sheep is very similar to human.

The disputes around the ethics of the artificial womb are also quite active. Some scientists believe that an artificial womb will relieve women of responsibility for having children, while others believe that this method will completely destroy the magic of pregnancy and will not allow an invisible bond to form between mother and child.