Healthy Mice Born from Transplanted Wombs

Doctors and scientists in Sweden have transplanted uteri from one set of mice to another that then produced normal baby mice, which they state is the first time that live births have occurred in the transplanted uteri of any species. The achievement was reported at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Madrid (Spain).

In each recipient mouse, the transplanted uterus was placed alongside the normal uterus, which served as a control. After transplantation between genetically identical mice, the grafted uterus produced baby mice. These had normal body weight, showed normal behavior, and were fertile. Five of seven uterine grafts that had been preserved in a cooling solution for 24 hours also produced healthy babies. Transplantation between different strains of mice was used to study rejection of the transplants. The researchers found that rejection progressed gradually from day two. By day 10, there was severe acute rejection and by day 15, there was necrosis and extensive scar tissue.

To minimize ischemia, organs were preserved in a cooling solution. The researchers preserved some of the uteri for 24 hours in UW (University of Wisconsin) solution or sodium chloride or for 48 hours in UW solution. The uteri preserved for 24 hours in UW solution still showed normal blood flow and histology two weeks after transplantation, but the graft transplanted after 48 hours showed impaired blood flow and by two weeks was necrotic. This demonstrated that the time limit for removing and transplanting the uterus was 24-48 hours.

"We think our findings have big implications for the development of womb transplants in women,” said team leader Mats Brannstrom, a professor at Sahlgrenska University (Goteborg, Sweden). "We've demonstrated for the first time that transplanted uteri can harbor pregnancies and that the rejection of the uterus is similar to other organs.” Prof. Brannstrom believes womb transplants could help 3-4% of infertile women and could be an alternative to surrogacy.




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Sahlgrenska University