A father can have a baby? (First time in the world, father's pregnancy and childbirth?!)

The ability to bear children was thought to be given only to mothers.

 

But science has made it possible for fathers to conceive and give birth.

 

The baby mouse (Fig. 1) was fertilized with the sperm of the father mouse, 

and the father mouse was pregnant and the father mouse gave birth.

And then it became an adult and bred normally.

 

Fig. 1. Mouse pregnant and given birth by father

Today's video introduces a study that answers

"Dad can have a baby, too?" (Fig. 2).

 

Fig. 2. Dad can have a baby, too?

In mammals, pregnancy and childbirth were only possible for mothers (Fig. 3).

 

Fig. 3. Pregnancy

 

At least once in your life,

you'll be asked,

"Why can't your dad get pregnant and give birth?"

 

In particular, the scene of a hippocampus giving birth is a hot topic (Fig. 4),

but since a hippocampus is a fish that lays eggs,

pregnancy and childbirth, which are characteristics of mammals, is impossible to the hippocampus.

 

 

The mother's hippocampus lays the eggs,

and the father's hippocampus fertilizes the egss and stores them.

Fig. 4. Childbirth of father hippocampus

 

 

It's been shown that

pregnancy and childbirth require a special organ uterus (Fig. 5)

and proper hormone control.

 

Fig. 5. Uterus

 

The Chinese researchers challenged

these gender-based constraints

and published the following paper in response (Fig. 6).

 

Fig. 6. A rat model of pregnancy in the male parabiont

 

Yuhan Liu, who is a researcher at China's Naval Medical Center,

has overcome the limitations of uncontrolled uterine

and pregnancy hormones in a rather bizarre way.

 

 

As shown in the following schematic diagram (Fig. 7),

the researchers linked the skin of the female and male mice to share blood,

implant the uterus in the male mice,

and implant fertilized eggs in both female and male mice.

 

Fig. 7. The schematic diagram of surgery to make father mouse pregnant and childbirth

 

The pregnant mother mouse's pregnancy hormones

are transmitted to the father mouse through shared blood.

 

The fertilized egg was implanted in the father mouse,

and the fetus began to grow (Fig. 8).

 

Fig. 8. The fetus implanted in father uterus

 

Meanwhile, the father mouse had a cesarean section

on the 21st day of pregnancy because normal delivery was not possible.

 

The researchers claimed that

the baby mouse, born to the father mouse,

could grow normally and reproduce (Fig. 9).

 

Fig. 9. The growth of the mouse whose father mouse became pregnant and gave birth (Indicated as a red box)

 

In this way, the researchers implanted 280 embryos in 46 male mice, 10 of which survived.

 

The researchers called "The experiment may have a profound impact on reproductive biology."

But animal rights group PETA criticized it as unethical research.

 

Research in this approach can enable the pregnancy and childbirth of transsexual women (Fig. 10).

 

It's a way of transplanting the uterus into a transsexual woman, and controlling the proper hormones.

 

Fig. 10. The symbol of variation