Humster
A humster is a hybrid cell line made from a hamster oocyte fertilized with human sperm. This is possible due to the unique promiscuity of hamster ova, which allows them to fuse with non-hamster sperm.[1] It always consists of single cells, and cannot form a multi-cellular being. Humsters are usually destroyed before they divide into two cells; if isolated and left alone to divide, they would still be unviable.[2]
Humsters are routinely created mainly for two reasons:
- To avoid legal issues with working with pure human embryonic stem cell lines.
- To assess the viability of human sperm for in vitro fertilization
Somatic cell hybrids between humans and hamsters or mice have been used for the mapping of various traits since at least the 1970s.[3]
References
- Yanagimachi, R.; Yanagimachi, H.; Rogers, B. J. (November 1976). "The Use of Zona-Free Animal Ova as a Test-System for the Assessment of the Fertilizing Capacity of Human Spermatozoa". Biology of Reproduction. 15 (4): 471–476. doi:10.1095/biolreprod15.4.471. ISSN 0006-3363. PMID 974200. S2CID 18988034.
- Final Report of the Human Embryo Research Panel (Report). Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health. 27 September 1994. p. 96. as cited in Bonnicksen, Andrea (2009). Chimeras, Hybrids, and Interspecies Research Politics and Policymaking. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 9781589015746.
- Griffiths, Anthony J.F.; Miller, Jeffrey H.; Suzuki, David T.; Lewontin, Richard C.; Gelbart, William M. (2002). An introduction to genetic analysis (7th ed.). New York, NY: W. H. Freeman. ISBN 978-0716735205.
- Ballantyne, Angela (2004). "Humans and Hybrids: A Critique of the Western Moral Framework". Essays in Philosophy. Philosophy Documentation Center. 5 (2): 363–374. doi:10.5840/eip2004528.
- Junca, Anne-Marie; Plachot, Michelle; Mandelbaum, Jacqueline (1983). "Evaluation of human sperm fertility by interspecific (human spermatozoa-hamster oocytes) in vitro fertilization". Acta Europea Fertilitatis. 14 (3): 191–196. ISSN 0587-2421. PMID 6670443.
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