Monkey born after ovarian tissue transplant

LONDON - A monkey has given birth to a healthy baby created from an egg taken from transplanted ovarian tissue, in a breakthrough scientists say could lead to new fertility treatment for women with cancer.

The baby, named Brenda, is the first primate born using an egg taken not from a working ovary but from parts of the ovary implanted elsewhere in the mother's body. This tissue contains cells that can develop into eggs, without needing a full ovary.

The egg was then removed, fertilised and the embryo was transplanted into a surrogate mother.

"This breakthrough may be a major step in preserving fertility for young cancer survivors," said David Lee, a fertility expert at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, who worked on the primate project.

"This procedure could allow a significant number of these cancer survivors to conceive and have healthy children," he said.

Although cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and radical surgery save the lives of patients, they can damage or destroy their fertility.

The scientists restored fertility in seven monkeys whose ovaries had been removed, by implanting fresh tissue from their ovaries under the skin of their arm, abdomen or kidney or in a combination of areas to determine the best site.

Six to 12 months later the scientists retrieved eggs from the monkeys, fertilised them with sperm and implanted a dozen embryos into surrogate monkey mothers, according to the research published in the science journal Nature.

One pregnancy was established and five months later, the normal gestation period for monkeys, Brenda was born from the womb of the surrogate mother.

Until now only live sheep and rodents have been born through such egg transplants. The knowledge gleaned from the primate research brings scientists a step closer to producing the same results in humans

The article is not well written. It does not engage the reader's attention. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Bear with me for a minute, please, or jump to the bottom of my post to see where I'm going with this.

A quick analysis of a poorly written article

A monkey has given birth to a healthy baby created from an egg taken from transplanted ovarian tissue, in a breakthrough scientists say could lead to new fertility treatment for women with cancer.

Before reading the rest of the article, the reader takes a quick glance at the opening sentence and thinks, "So? How is the outcome of this different from invitrofertilization. Time to move to the next thread". Too bad. There is some very serious stuff hiding in this study.

The scientists restored fertility in seven monkeys whose ovaries had been removed, by implanting fresh tissue from their ovaries under the skin of their arm, abdomen or kidney or in a combination of areas to determine the best site.

If the reader sticks with the article, he comes across the above sentence and says to himself, "If their ovaries had been removed, where did the ovarian tissue come from?"

"This article is badly written, I think I'll wait until someone does a better job explaining the advantages of this process versus traditional fertility procedures."

Six to 12 months later the scientists retrieved eggs from the monkeys, fertilized them with sperm and implanted a dozen embryos into surrogate monkey mothers, according to the research published in the science journal Nature.
Whose eggs??? How could this help??

This is how the article should have been written (unwordsmithed):

In a breakthrough fertility study using monkeys, scientists have discovered that ovarian tissue, implanted in several unusual places on a female monkey's body, will be capable of producing good-quality ripened eggs.

These ripened eggs can be removed and fertilized in the lab, then replanted in the mother or a surrogate. At least one healthy, baby monkey, grown from an egg removed from the transplanted ovarian tissue, has been born.

This research demonstrates that, potentially, women who are undergoing ovarian-damaging treatment for cancer may still be able to conceive using preserved ovarian tissue after their treatment is completed.

The author should then follow with technical details...

Written differently this article could possibly have generated a bounty of responses:

Does this mean men will be able to get pregnant?
Does this mean ovaries will become marketable organs?
Does this mean you ovarian tissues could theoretically be taken from your recently deceased wife and implant into a surrogate?
Does this also mean that family lines can continue long after people are dead?

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