Giant panda stem cells could finally help save the species

It is considered one of the cutest animals on earth, the giant panda (Alleuropoda melanoleuca) They face serious problems in survival. Although this species has been reclassified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from “Endangered” to “Vulnerable,” some threats remain, and may The most dangerous is breeding in captivity.

While the problem has been partly overcome, thanks to the introduction of new management techniques, nutrition and understanding of animal behaviour, specialists in zoos and protected areas also have to deal with this problem. The species' natural reproductive rate decreases by a maximum of 36 hours per year.

Now, a study was recently published in the journal sciences He proposes an innovative way to ensure this survival: reprogramming giant panda skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These multipotent cells, even artificially created, have properties similar to their natural counterparts.

Creating panda stem cells

The technology that earned Japanese physician Shinya Yamanaka the Nobel Prize in 2012, “iPSCs provide a self-renewing and inexhaustible source of materials for endangered species, Able to renew multiple types of cells as needed“, explain the authors of the current study.

After proving effective in “de-extincting” the northern white rhino, creating induced pluripotent stem cells from giant pandas was not successful when researchers used experimental conditions that had already been tested on mice and human cells.

Back to square one, they changed some details, until they reached the right conditions. “Clones [iPSC] They were so beautifulLiu said in a statement.

What did researchers do with giant panda stem cells?

If turning giant panda skin cells into stem cells is indeed a 'birth', the big challenge comes next: what do we do with those cells now? Two obvious options are to create sperm from the animal, and Mainly eggs. This is because stimulating the female panda to produce more eggs (for retrieval) is prohibited.

Unable to collect eggs from living giant pandas, scientists considered doing so with recently deceased individuals, but quickly gave up. “The few deceased, many of whom are elderly or suffer from health problems, It increases the complexity of collecting viable eggs“Liu explains.

Although the ultimate goal of the research is to use these stem cells to create an animal, Liu says, that doesn't mean it will be possible to generate a giant panda in a test tube right away, even if it is reprogrammed to a pluripotent state. iPSCs are not yet an embryo.

Either way, the study provided a valuable tool for research, and a basis for generating giant panda gametes in the laboratory.