An Egg Unlike Any Other: The Creation of an Artificial Ovary

Researchers at Brown University successfully created an ovary that produced mature eggs from early follicles. This breakthrough could have far reaching impact on treating infertility as well as researching infertility in women. These scientists where able to successfully create a 3D structure consisting of three different cell lines. These cell lines consisted of Granulosa cells, Theca cells and Oocytes.

Researchers used a 3D petri dish made of a moldable agarose to form the three dimensional shape of an ovary. Using donated Theca cells from fertile patients they made a honeycomb shape throughout the mold. Within the honeycomb structures, spherical groups of Granulosa cells and Oocytes where implanted. In a few days the Theca cells encapsulated the Granulosa cells and Oocytes just like in a developing ovary.

These artificial ovaries have a far reaching potential in raising the success rate with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and also researching causes of female infertility. While undergoing IVF, fertility clinics take both mature and immature follicles from the patients, with only the mature follicles likely to produce embryos. With an artificial ovary these immature follicles could be developed into mature follicles, thus increasing the likelihood that one of the follicles harvested will result in a live birth; which is appealing due the cost of IVF treatment. Another potential use for an artificial ovary is researching effects of the environment on fertility. By exposing the ovary to different chemicals and toxins you could determine the effect of those chemicals on fertility. Imagine being able to know exactly what exposure to a chemical will do to a human ovary because you were able to see exactly what it did to an artificial ovary in the lab. With an already functioning artificial ovary, who knows what could be next.

References:

http://brownengineering.blogspot.com/2011/01/time-magazine-calls-artificial-ovary.html