Scientists hail womb transplant success

Hopes that infertile women will one day be able to give birth after a womb transplant have been raised by revolutionary research on mice.

Scientists report today how, for the first time, they trans-planted a womb in a mouse and then made the rodent pregnant by the transfer of fertilised eggs.

The experiment, at Gothenburg University in Sweden, involved placing a donor womb alongside the mouse's existing womb. The researchers then implanted the same number of embryos in both wombs, which resulted in three foetuses in the natural womb and one in the donor uterus.

The pregnancies were not allowed to progress and were halted for further investigation, the Journal of Endocrinology reports.

Dr Mats Brannstrom of the university's Sahlgrenska Academy, said the study provided vital physiological information about mechanisms involved in transplants. "We are aiming to achieve uterus transplantation in humans. Suitable donors could be either a sister after she has had her own children or a mother."