Lambs were born via an experimental form of IVF that involved turning immature eggs into viable ones — a development that could potentially improve human success rates.
The technique had previously worked in mice but never in large mammals. Each menstrual cycle, several egg-containing ovarian follicles approach maturity, but most wither, usually leaving one egg.
Normal in vitro fertilization boosts the maturing follicles to get several eggs but is often unsuccessful.
The new method stimulates follicles that never begin to develop, making many more eggs available for each IVF cycle.
The main beneficiaries would be women with ovaries damaged by cancer treatment, New Scientist reported, for whom the current fertility-restoration treatment — freezing ovarian tissue before cancer treatment and then re-transplanting it — risks reintroducing malignant cells.
