SOME infertile men could one day father children by being given a transplant of 鈥渘urse鈥� cells into their defective testes.
Between 5 and 15 per cent of cases of male infertility are thought to be caused by defects in the Sertoli cells, which surround undeveloped sperm in the testes and are vital for the proper development of sperm.
Now researchers from Kyoto University, Japan, report that they have restored fertility to male mice by transplanting healthy Sertoli cells into the testes of mutant mice that lack a key Sertoli cell protein (Human Reproduction, vol 20, p 2376).
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The process is as yet far too inefficient to be used in humans, however.
