將來生孩子不再需要媽媽

Scientists say early experiments suggest it may one day be possible to make babies without using eggs.

科學家稱，早期實驗表明，將來某一天或許不需要卵子就能孕育出嬰兒。

They have succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by tricking sperm into believing they were fertilising normal eggs.

通過欺騙精子，讓其認爲自己使正常卵子受精，科學家們已經成功“造”出了健康的小鼠。

The findings in Nature Communications, could, in the distant future, mean women can be removed from the baby-making process, say the researchers.

該研究成果發表在《自然通訊》雜誌上。研究者指出，實驗結果還意味着，將來生育孩子也許不再需要女性。

For now, the work helps to explain some of the details of fertilisation.

目前，這一研究有助於解釋受精過程中的一些細節。

End of mum and dad?

不再需要爸爸和媽媽？

The University of Bath scientists started with an unfertilised egg in their experiments. They used chemicals to trick it into becoming a pseudo-embryo.

巴斯大學的科學家們在實驗中使用了一枚未受精的卵細胞。他們使用化學物質將其“裝飾”成一枚假胚胎。

These "fake" embryos share much in common with ordinary cells, such as skin cells, in the way they divide and control their DNA.

這些“假”胚胎與皮膚細胞等正常細胞在分裂和控制DNA方面有很多共同點。

The researchers reasoned that if injecting sperm into mouse pseudo-embryos could produce healthy babies, then it might one day be possible to achieve a similar result in humans using cells that are not from eggs.

研究者因此認爲，如果向老鼠的“假”胚胎中注射精子能夠製造出健康小鼠，那麼將來通過使用非卵子細胞也可能在人類生育問題上取得同樣結果。

In the mouse experiments, the odds of achieving a successful pregnancy was one in four.

在使用老鼠進行的實驗中，懷孕成功率爲四分之一。

Dr Tony Perry, one of the researchers, told the BBC News website: "This is the first time that anyone has been able to show that anything other than an egg can combine with a sperm in this way to give rise to offspring.

研究者之一託尼-佩裏博士在接受BBC新聞網站採訪時說：“卵子以外的細胞能以此種方式與精子結合，並且孕育出新生命，這尚屬首次。”

"It overturns nearly 200 years of thinking."

“它顛覆了人們近200年來的認識。”

Those baby mice were healthy, had a normal life expectancy and had healthy pups of their own.

實驗中誕生的老鼠們都很健康，有着正常的預期壽命，並能繁衍健康的後代。