Isolation and Characterization of Pluripotent Human Spermatogonial Stem Cell-Derived Cells

Abstract

Several reports have documented the derivation of pluripotent cells (multipotent germline stem cells) from spermatogonial stem cells obtained from the adult mouse testis. These spermatogonia-derived stem cells express embryonic stem cell markers and differentiate to the three primary germ layers, as well as the germline. Data indicate that derivation may involve reprogramming of endogenous spermatogonia in culture. Here, we report the derivation of human multipotent germline stem cells (hMGSCs) from a testis biopsy. The cells express distinct markers of pluripotency, form embryoid bodies that contain derivatives of all three germ layers, maintain a normal XY karyotype, are hypomethylated at the H19 locus, and express high levels of telomerase. Teratoma assays indicate the presence of human cells 8 weeks post-transplantation but limited teratoma formation. Thus, these data suggest the potential to derive pluripotent cells from human testis biopsies but indicate a need for novel strategies to optimize hMGSC culture conditions and reprogramming.

Alteration in genes expression patterns during in vitro differentiation of mouse spermatogonial cells into neuroepithelial-like cells

“…Our research proved that ES-like cells originated from spermatogonia cells, express high ES-like cells have the same molecular profiling as embryonic stem cells (Mardanpour et al 2008;Kossack et al 2009). …”

Expansion and Differentiation of Germline-Derived Pluripotent Stem Cells on Biomaterials

“…[9][10][11]25,26 These cells have been confirmed to be pluripotent and possess ES cell characteristics as demonstrated by alkaline phosphatase staining, SSEA1 expression, chimera assay, differentiation into somatic cells of the three germ layers in vitro and teratoma formation in vivo.…”

“…Although some ES cell lines can be adapted for permanent expansion on gelatine, 32 gPS cells are preferentially cultured on MEF to keep their capacity of continuous proliferation and to stabilize their undifferentiated state. [9][10][11]25,26 Proliferation rate of gPS cells on Resomer LR704 was lower than that of gPS cells on MEF. However, this polymer supported the typical ES cell-like morphology and stable expression of Oct4-GFP fluorescence over passages.…”

“…In particular, pluripotent stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells (ES cells), 1,2 induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) [3][4][5][6][7][8] and germline-derived pluripotent stem cells (gPS cells) [9][10][11] are an attractive source because of their potential to differentiate into somatic cells of all three germ layers. gPS cells originate from unipotent germline stem cells (GSC), which were defined in Ko et al by expression of germ cell markers and proof of unipotency.…”

How can ethics relate to science? The case of stem cell research

“…However, this commitment may not be as definitive as was initially thought, and some studies suggested that adult stem cells may give rise to specialised cell types of a tissue, other than that from which they originated. [21][22][23][24][25][26] However, the practical use of this sort of phenomena has to be treated with care, as previously reported experiments on this topic in the past 27 have been shown to be non-reproducible. Therefore, adult stem cells are more realistically being proposed as a possible source of material to treat the tissue of origin or closely related tissues.…”