THE birth of the first live mice created from mouse skin cells has confirmed the potential of converting pluripotent stem cells (iPS) into all tissues of the body, a property that could prove valuable for people undergoing reconstructive surgery.
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues started by making iPS cells from mouse skin cells. They then injected the cells into mouse embryos to create 鈥渃himeric鈥� embryos, each containing four sets of chromosomes. The embryos were implanted into female mice, resulting in 27 live chimeric pups being born. Many of them were fertile (Nature, ).
鈥淚njecting pluripotent stem cells into mouse embryos led to the creation of chimeric embryos鈥�
Advertisement
While creating a baby from iPS cells would be unethical, the breakthrough proves iPS cells made from an individual鈥檚 own cells have the capability to turn into any tissue in the body.
