Is it possible to fertilize an egg without sperm

Learn how fracking chemicals may pose a threat to fertility. People with hyperspermia have a higher-than-usual semen volume during ejaculation.

It may affect fertility in some cases. Learn more here. Egg donation can help women become pregnant when it is difficult for them to do so.

It is part of assisted reproductive technology ART. The process…. In this article, learn about possible signs of infertility in men and women, as well as about other risk factors, the treatment options, and when to….

Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure doctors use to diagnose a variety of conditions, including some that can cause infertility. Fertilization without an egg: New technique produces healthy baby mice Written by Honor Whiteman on September 14, Share on Pinterest Researchers suggest it is possible to produce offspring without a female egg. Sperm does not rely on the egg to be reprogrammed. Written by Honor Whiteman on September 14, Earlier this year in China, scientists were able to make sperm from stem cells and then fertilise an egg to produce healthy mice.

Dr Perry suggested that combining the two fields of research may eventually do without the need for sperm and eggs altogether. Follow James on Twitter. Lab-grown sperm makes healthy offspring.

Nature Communicatons. Image source, SPL. End of mum and dad? Image source, Tony Perry. Related Topics. Fertility IVF. The Edinburgh team, working at the Roslin Institute where Dolly the sheep was cloned, used about human eggs from volunteer donors to create half a dozen parthenote blastocysts - human embryos that consist of about 50 cells, which can be used as a source of stem cells.

In normal reproduction, eggs would kick out half their genetic material in preparation to receive the male complement delivered by a sperm cell. To make parthenotes, the eggs were cultured in the lab in such a way that they retain all of their chromosomes; about half could be successfully matured and persuaded to divide with an electric shock.

But only five in every hundred grew to the blastocyst stage, and then with only half the usual number of cells. Dismissing objections regarding the efficiency of the process, Dr De Sousa said: 'It's a numbers game. It's just a matter of supply of tissue to be engaged in experimentation. Humans, like other mammals, do not undergo this process because of a gene regulation process called imprinting that ensures genes from the mother and father must both contribute if development of the embryo is to reach full term.

So far, scientists have induced parthenotes artificially in creatures such as mice and monkeys, although it has very often resulted in abnormal development.

Imprinted genes are genes whose expression is determined by the parent that contributed them; imprinted genes violate the usual rule of inheritance that both sets of parental genes are equally expressed. A small number of genes in mammals, about 80 of them at the most recent count, have been found to be imprinted.