Aborted fetuses could become unborn mothers

[Guest guest]

Aborted fetuses could become " unborn mothers "

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993889

 

12:20 01 July 03

 

NewScientist.com news service

 

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's fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and

Embryology Authority, said the use of eggs produced in this way for

fertility treatment would be illegal. " It would be difficult for any child

to come to terms with being created by aborted fetuses, " said HFEA chair

Suzi Leather.

 

Anti-abortion groups attacked the research, calling it " macabre " . Nuala

Scarisbrick, of the UK group Life said: " It is sickening and disgusting,

even by the low standards of reproductive technology. "

 

The study's leader, Tal Biron-Shental, of the Meir Hospital-Sapir Medical

Center in Kfar Saba, Israel, defended the work. " I am fully aware of the

controversy about this, but probably, in some places, it will be ethically

acceptable, " she said at the European Society for Human Reproduction and

Embryology's 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' gestation. Fetal ovarian

tissue at this age contains mostly " primordial follicles " . 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 " apoptosis " , 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

" identifiable " 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.

 

" The increase indicates viability and development of these follicles during

culture, " say the team, who think the estradiol was secreted from " secondary

follicles " that had developed in the cultured slices. The scientists

conclude that ovaries can be taken from human fetuses in this way to produce

" morphologically healthy, viable follicles " .

 

 

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.

 

 

Shaoni Bhattacharya, Madrid

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features

 

Related Stories

 

 

Embryonic stem cells turned into eggs

1 May 2003

 

Genetic test blunders risk needless abortions

30 April 2003

 

Eggs matured in the test tube

1 August 2002

 

 

For more related stories

search the print edition Archive

 

 

 

Weblinks