The induction of rat spermatogonial stem cells into neuronal-like cells and behavioral recovery following transplantation in a rat Parkinson's disease model.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a widespread age-associated neurodegenerative disorder. Current treatment is symptomatic rather than curative. However, stem cell replacement therapies may have the potential to offer curative treatment. In this study, we demonstrate that rat CD49f+ spermatogonial stem cells (rSSCs) can be induced to become functional dopaminergic neuron-like cells in vitro. Furthermore, when rSSCs were transplanted into 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-treated PD rats, the results indicated that rSSCs expressed multiple neuron cell markers and were ameliorative to behavioral recovery in PD rats after induction both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, rSSCs demonstrated increased activity in the regeneration of dopaminergic neuron-like cells, increased migration distances and were associated with improvement in animal behavior in the PD rat model. Therefore, rSSCs could be a source of dopaminergic neuron-like cells with potential benefit in cell replacement therapy for PD.