Understanding Infertility and the Potential Role of Stem Cells in Infertility Treatment: A Short Communication

Infertility is increasing at a great rate across the globe. Various male as well as female factors are known to contribute to infertility. Although hormonal replacement therapy and assisted reproduction treatments like in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection are well established clinical modalities to treat infertility, stem cells are now being considered as potentially new therapeutic agents for the treatment of infertility due to their high differentiation potential. Several studies have shown that stem cell transplantation, also known as stem cell based therapy facilitates endometrial regeneration, ovarian regeneration, oocyte production in females; and activates the process of spermatogenesis in males. The present mini review is an attempt to understand the gravity of infertility as a disease, discuss some of the major causes leading to infertility in males and females and to summarize the current knowledge regarding the use of stem cells in reproductive medicine.