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Microgravity and radiation cut success of human germ cell growth in space

A study using two Tianzhou cargo missions found germ cell precursor success rates fell by about half in space compared with Earth.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Emerging Markets

Chinese researchers say growing early human germ cells in space is significantly less successful than on Earth, attributing weaker results to microgravity and cosmic radiation. The work was carried out by teams from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics and Tsinghua University.

According to a study published in Science Advances on July 15, early-stage human reproductive cells did not grow or develop as well in space. The researchers reported the success rate of generating earliest precursor germ cells dropped by around half, while early sperm-producing cells multiplied about 25 percent more slowly than they do on Earth.

The team used two China Tianzhou cargo spacecraft missions to culture and study differentiation of human reproductive cells in orbit. The study also said it represents the world first successful differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into germ cells in a space environment, based on the paper.

SCMP Economy reported that the findings suggest biological hurdles for reproductive research tied to longer term space missions, even as the researchers achieved the first successful germ cell differentiation in a space environment.

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