In recent years, embryonic stem (ES) cell-like cells have been obtained from cultured mouse spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). These advances have shown that SSCs can transition from being the stem cell-producing cells of spermatogenesis to being multipotent cells that can differentiate into derivatives of all three germ layers. As such, they offer new possibilities for studying the mechanisms t...

Understanding the mechanisms that regulate germ-cell development is crucial to reproductive medicine and animal production. Animal gametes originally derive from sexually undifferentiated primordial germ cells (PGCs), which develop into mitotic germ cells (oogonia or spermatogonia) before proceeding to meiosis [Wylie, C. (1999) Cell 96, 165-174]. Spermatogonia are thought to include a populatio...

Spermatogonial stem cells provide the foundation for continued adult spermatogenesis and their manipulation can facilitate assisted reproductive technologies or the development of transgenic animals. Because the pig is an important agricultural and biomedical research animal, the development of practical application techniques to manipulate the pig Spermatogonial stem cell is needed. The abilit...

BACKGROUND Spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) is a self-renewing population of male adult stem cell. SSCs have a differentiation potential which are similar to embryonic stem cells. These Embryonic stem like (ES-like) cells can be a potential source for pluripotent cells for stem cell-based therapy. OBJECTIVE This study presents an economical and simple co-culture system for pluripotent stem cell...

This article will provide an updated review of spermatogonial stem cells and their role in maintaining the spermatogenic lineage. Experimental tools used to study spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) will be described, along with research using these tools to enhance our understanding of stem cell biology and spermatogenesis. Increased knowledge about the biology of SSCs improves our capacity to ma...

Regulation of the germ stem cell niche as the foundation for adult spermatogenesis: A role for miRNAs?' Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology, vol 29C, pp. 76-83. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recog...

Germ cell development begins with the characteristics of the primordial germ cells (PGCs) early in human fetal life. PGCs arise from the proximal epiblast and will replace to the extra embryonic mesoderm during the fourth and fifth week of embryonic development. By the finish of the fifth week to early sixth week, PGCs will embark for a second immigration via the dorsal mesenterium of the gut t...

Spermatogonial stem cell transplantation was first reported by Ralph Brinster's laboratory in 1994. It has proven to be a technological breakthrough in the study of both stem cells and Sertoli cell-germ cell interactions. This technique can be used to transfer testicular stem cells successfully from one animal to another of the same species (referred to as syngeneic transplants) and sometimes t...