‘Third parent' technique inches closer to reality

Findings of the trial suggest that eggs donated by younger females could be used to repair age related damaged eggs and are likely to boost the chances of successful fertilisation.

Technique tried on 31 older eggs proved successful
Researchers at St Mother Hospital in Kitakyushu, Japan tried the technique on 31 older women’s eggs. They took out the healthy nucleus from the older women’s eggs and implanted them in the donated eggs of younger women aged under 35.

The nucleus of the younger women’s eggs was removed so that the modified egg had the older woman’s nucleus and the younger woman’s healthy cytoplasm--the jelly like substance that fills the cell that is 80 percent water.

The technique appeared to work in 25 rejuvenated eggs. The researchers noted that when these eggs were injected with sperms, mutation started in seven eggs which started to divide and develop into early stage embryos.

The eggs were only used to test whether an early stage embryo develops in the lab and not to produce babies.

“If we could transfer these constructed new embryos, I believe the success rate would be high,” said Tanaka, the lead researcher of the study.

Research remains controversial
Despite the success of the laboratory trial, it remains controversial and is likely to provoke an ethical outrage, because a baby born after the egg was fertilised would have two mothers and a father.

Also, the technique defies nature and any mistake done during the process would be inherited by next generations.

Josephine Quintavalle, of campaign group Comment of reproductive Ethics argued, “Nature’s way of doing things have been very successful over the centuries and this idea that we do it better is very presumptuous. It doesn’t seem extraordinary that every year we have 2,00,000 abortions and at the same time everybody is desperate to have a baby and no manipulation is too complicated and too risky.

“The theme that is running through all of this is older women. The message is to have your children sooner-it’s as simple as that.”

Any such treatment which involves genetically modifying an egg remains illegal in Britain, under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.

Nevertheless, it has been claimed that the technique could double the chances of IVF success for older women, which often fails due to abnormalities in cytoplasm present in the older egg cells.

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a major treatment for infertility and involves a process by which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the womb, in vitro such as a test tube.

The results of the clinical trial were presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting in Atlanta, Georgia last month.