Successful uterus transplantation for sheep

Swedish scientists at the University of Gothenburg conducted a series of experiments on uterus transplantation, the results of which were presented at the annual ESHRE conference in Prague. Back in 2003, researchers have conducted uterus transplantation of 12 mice, while 99% of the donors were genetically identical to the recipient. Embryo implantation in the transplanted uterus caused a good outcome. However, further studies on the uterus transplants of genetically non-identical mice failed. As the next step the researchers successfully removed the uterus out of sheep and transplanted it back in a few hours. The transplanted uterus remained in a good “working” condition for 2-3 months after surgery. Now the task of researchers is to create pregnancy in such womb, and then try to transplant a uterus from one sheep to another, avoiding its rejection by using immunosuppressive therapy. The authors hope that in 5 years it will be possible to continue experiments on primates, and to come close to solving the problem of uterus transplantation in humans. (BioNews)