By TODD VENEZIA, Post Wire Services
Last updated: 3:43 pm
October 9, 2008
Posted: 4:31 am
October 9, 2008
It turns out that testicles are good for more than just making babies, supplying fortitude and providing cheap laughs on "America's Funniest Home Videos."
Scientists have found that the male sex glands can yield stem cells as useful to research as stem cells derived from embryos.
The new study - published in this week's journal Nature - could turn the stem-cell research debate on its head by eliminating the controversial destruction of embryos to acquire cells.
"The advantage these cells have in comparison to embryonic stem cells is that there is no ethical problem with these cells and that they are natural," said lead author Thomas Skutella of the Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine in Tuebingen, Germany.
The study looked at testicular tissue taken through biopsies of 22 men, ranging in age from 17 to 81.
After a few weeks the cells could split into various types of cells, mimicking the performance of stem cells taken from embryos - and holding promise for treating Parkinson's disease, diabetes, spinal cord damage and other ailments.
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