浅谈精原干细胞研究进展

精原干细胞是雄性动物体内精子发生过程中起重要作用的精原细胞类型,不但具有干细胞特性,还能定向分化为雄性配子将自身基因传递给后代。除此之外,体外培养和鉴定精原干细胞为移植和转基因提供了基础。我们对精原干细胞的生物学特性、分离培养、鉴定、移植及精原干细胞介导的转基因进行简要概述。     

哺乳动物精原干细胞的研究进展

精原干细胞是雄性体内可以永久维持的成体干细胞,它具有自我更新和分化的能力,保证了雄性个体生命过程中精子发生的持续进行,从而实现将遗传信息传递给下一代。精原千细胞不仅可在体外实现长期培养或诱导分化为各级生精细胞,并且可在特定条件下将其诱导去分化成为多能性干细胞。同样,这种多能性干细胞如同胚胎干细胞,可被诱导形成造血细胞、神经元细胞、肌细胞等多种类型细胞。鉴于其独具的生物学特性,精原干细胞在揭示精子的发生机制、治疗雄性不育和转基因动物等研究中具有重要价值。该文对精原干细胞在生物学特性、纯化培养、移植、体外诱导分化及其相关调控方面的各项研究进行了小结,综述了近年来的研究历程和最新研究成果。     

利用雄性生殖细胞建立转基因动物的研究进展

随着科学研究的不断深入及临床治疗的需要,人们对转基因动物的需求越来越大;但是传统的转基因动物技术大多操作复杂、成本高、效率低,从而限制了转基因技术的广泛应用。利用雄性生殖细胞作为载体介导外源基因导入受精卵来建立转基因动物具有操作简便、经济、易于推广的优点,发展前景广阔。该文就利用雄性生殖细胞建立转基因动物的发展历程和方法进行系统的阐述和分析。从利用精子和精原干细胞携带外源DNA两个方向展开,分别分析和评价了恒温共孵育法、脂质体介导法、电穿孔法、胞浆内单精子注射法、输精管注射法、体外转染精原干细胞法以及体内转染精原干细胞法七种实验设计方法。     

牛雄性生殖系干细胞的体外诱导分化

雄性生殖系干细胞(Male germ-line stem cells, mGSCs)是一群具有高度自我更新能力和分化潜能的细胞, 是雄性成体内唯一可复制的二倍体永生细胞。转基因技术与雄性生殖系干细胞异体及异种移植技术相结合, 将会为克隆动物、转基因动物生产及一些人类遗传性疾病的基因治疗提供新的机遇与途径。本试验采用组合酶消化和选择贴壁法, 对5月龄、6月龄牛胎儿及新生牛雄性生殖系干细胞体外培养及分化进行了研究。试验结果显示, 睾丸支持细胞对雄性生殖系干细胞体外增殖、分化所必需的, 同时对数期睾丸支持细胞对雄性生殖系干细胞贴壁、增殖与分化效果明显; 共培养16 d后, 牛雄性生殖系干细胞分化为长形精子细胞, 试验建立了牛雄性生殖系干细胞体外诱导培养分化体系。     

精原干细胞的生物学特性

精原干细胞(spermatogonialstemcells,SSCs)是雄性生殖系干细胞,位于睾丸曲细精管基膜上,既具有自我更新潜能,又具有定向分化潜能,是自然状态下出生后动物体内在整个生命期间进行自我更新并能将基因传递至子代的唯一成体干细胞。自SSCs移植技术建立以来,有关其分离、鉴定、培养、冻存、转基因操作及移植等方面均已取得长足进步,使人们对其生物学特性有了更深入的了解。根据最近的相关进展,系统评述了SSCs的相关生物学特性,以期为该领域及其他干细胞研究提供借鉴。     

大动物精原干细胞研究进展

精原干细胞是存在于雄性动物睾丸内曲细精管基底膜上的生殖系干细胞。精原干细胞一方面通过自我更新来维持其在整个生命周期中自身群体的数量稳定,另一方面可以在精子发生过程中不断地分化成为各个阶段的生殖细胞并最终形成精子,从而将亲代携带的遗传信息传递给子代。目前在体外条件下可以进行精原干细胞的长期培养,并将其诱导分化为各级生精细胞。虽然对啮齿类动物精原干细胞的研究较为成熟,但是对大动物精原干细胞的研究进展较为缓慢。大动物精原干细胞的研究对了解人类相关生理机制和疾病至关重要,并且猪、牛和羊等农业动物的精原干细胞的研究为优良种畜扩繁和制备具有重要经济价值的基因修饰家畜提供新的手段。本文在介绍精原干细胞的特征基础上,重点综述了大动物精原干细胞的研究进展,探讨了目前研究中面临的主要问题和其未来应用前景,以期为动物新型替代繁殖技术、转基因动物制备、治疗雄性不育以及服务于再生医学提供新思路、新方法。     

水牛精原干细胞研究进展

精原干细胞(SSCs)是一类能够不断地进行自我更新和分化,并能保证遗传物质在亲子代之间有效传递的成体干细胞。伴随着各种移植技术、细胞体外培养及冻存等技术的发展,精原干细胞的应用成为可能,其在生产转基因动物及保护珍稀物种等方面有着广阔的应用前景。本文对水牛SSCs的生成、分离、纯化、培养、鉴定以及冻存的研究进行了系统的阐述。     

精原干细胞途径制作转基因动物

精原干细胞(spermatogonial stem cells,SSCS)具自我更新并分化出大量精子的能力.通过其建立转基因动物模型,对研究精子的发生机制、生产转基因动物、重建不育个体的生精功能等都有着.显著的推动作用.从研究意义着手,分述了精原干细胞途径制作转基因动物各技术步骤的研究情况,并提出了运用克隆技术丰富该途径的新思路.     

精原干细胞介导的基因编辑动物模型研究进展

合适的动物模型对于人类疾病的研究和药物开发至关重要。精原干细胞是位于睾丸组织曲细精管基底膜上的一类具有自我更新和分化潜能的成体干细胞,可以定向分化产生精子。利用精原干细胞作为基因编辑的对象,生产基因编辑的精子进行受精有望成为建立基因编辑动物疾病模型的一条有效途径。该文就精原干细胞的生物学特征、体外培养以及精原干细胞介导的基因编辑动物模型的进展和优缺点进行了阐述。     

精原干细胞技术研究进展

精原干细胞(spermatogonial stem cells,SSCs)是位于睾丸曲细精管基膜上能自我更新和连续分化产生精子的最原始精原细胞,是雄性体内唯一能将遗传信息自然传至子代并可终生复制的双倍体细胞,对复杂的精子发生过程有着至关重要的作用。作为一个未分化细胞群体,SSCs在精子生成和物种进化所必需的基因传递中发挥作用。基于课题组多年的研究,该文较系统地评述了SSCs的生物学特性、分离富集、体外培养影响因素和移植技术等方面的进展,以期对雄性辅助生殖、细胞再生治疗、畜牧业生产等研究应用提供借鉴。     

Spermatogonial stem cells: Current biotechnological advances in reproduction and regenerative medicine

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are the germ stem cells of the seminiferous epithelium in the testis. Through the process of spermatogenesis, they produce sperm while concomitantly keeping their cellular pool constant through self-renewal. SSC biology offers important applications for animal reproduction and overcoming human disease through regenerative therapies. To this end, several techniques involving SSCs have been developed and will be covered in this article. SSCs convey genetic information to the next generation, a property that can be exploited for gene targeting. Additionally, SSCs can be induced to become embryonic stem cell-like pluripotent cells in vitro. Updates on SSC transplantation techniques with related applications, such as fertility restoration and preservation of endangered species, are also covered on this article. SSC suspensions can be transplanted to the testis of an animal and this has given the basis for SSC functional assays. This procedure has proven technically demanding in large animals and men. In parallel, testis tissue xenografting, another transplantation technique, was developed and resulted in sperm production in testis explants grafted into ectopical locations in foreign species. Since SSC culture holds a pivotal role in SSC biotechnologies, current advances are overviewed. Finally, spermatogenesis in vitro, already demonstrated in mice, offers great promises to cope with reproductive issues in the farm animal industry and human clinical applications.     

Spermatogonial stem cell transplantation and testicular function

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are responsible for the continual production of spermatozoa throughout adult life. Interactions between SSCs and the surrounding cells in the seminiferous tubules regulate the biological activity of these cells. Factors involved in the regulation of SSCs are beginning to be defined by animal models and the culture of SSCs in defined media. A critical development in the characterization of SSCs has been the development of the germ cell transplantation technique, which provides the only assay for the presence of SSCs in a population of cells, and which allows the determination of whether SSCs are proliferating or differentiating in culture. This approach has accelerated SSC-focused research and promises to provide a better understanding of the factors and mechanisms that regulate these cells. The knowledge provided by this work is also critical to an appraisal of the components of the SSC niche in the seminiferous epithelium. Thus, many aspects of testicular function can be defined by the investigation of SSCs and the factors, cells, and environment that regulate SSCs, thereby leading to a more comprehensive understanding of spermatogenesis.     

睾丸组织块和精原干细胞异种移植的发展及现状

精原干细胞是精子发生的前提和基础,精原干细胞的存在为男性保存和恢复生育能力提供了可能.精原干细胞和睾丸组织移植技术已经被用来研究生精细胞的增殖与分化,这项技术对恢复无精子症或睾丸肿瘤患者的生育能力等有着重要的应用前景.综述了睾丸组织块和精原干细胞的移植技术的发展、现状及在医学领域的应用前景.     

精原干细胞移植及受体制备技术研究进展

精原干细胞移植为研究精子发生、雄性生殖能力及新型转基因技术奠定了基础.尽管已利用小鼠建立了较成熟的移植技术体系,白消安受体制备法和曲细精管及睾丸网移植法已得到广泛应用,但白消安可导致动物较高的死亡率,局部射线照射和无内源性精子发生受体动物的制备费用较昂贵,热处理受体制备法应用范围较窄且效果不稳定;三种移植方法均对操作有较高的技术要求,曲细精管、睾丸输出管移植需要显微注射装置,而睾丸网移植需要超声仪的辅助.而且,移植效果在不同实验间、物种间差异较大,移植效率有待提高,对移植排斥反应的认识也有待进一步深入.对睾丸结构和精原干细胞生物学特性的深入研究,将有助于建立更简单高效的受体制备和移植的方法.     

Homing efficiency and proliferation kinetics of male germ line stem cells following transplantation in mice

Stem cells in the male germ line (spermatogonial stem cells [SSCs]) are an important target for male fertility restoration and germ line gene modification. To establish a model system to study the biology and the applications of SSCs in mice, I used a sequential transplantation strategy to analyze the process by which SSCs colonize the stem cell niche after transplantation and to determine the efficiency of the process (homing efficiency). I further analyzed the proliferation kinetics of SSCs after colonization. The number of SSCs gradually decreased during the homing process, and only 12% of SSCs successfully colonized the niche on Day 7 after transplantation, but the number of SSCs increased by Day 14. Thus, homing efficiency of adult mouse SSCs is 12%. These results indicate that SSCs are rapidly lost upon transplantation and require approximately 1 wk to settle into their niches before initiating expansion. Using this SSC homing efficiency, I calculated that approximately 3000 SSCs exist in one normal adult testis, representing approximately 0.01% of total testis cells. Between 7 days and 1 mo after transplantation, SSCs proliferated 7.5-fold. However, they did not significantly proliferate thereafter until 2 mo, and only 8 SSCs supported one colony of donor-derived spermatogenesis from 1 to 2 mo. These results suggest that self-renewal and differentiation of SSCs are strictly regulated in coordination with the progress of an entire unit of regenerating spermatogenesis.     

Production of transgenic rats via lentiviral transduction and xenogeneic transplantation of spermatogonial stem cells

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) continue to proliferate in the testis to support spermatogenesis throughout life, which makes them ideal targets for germline modification. Although recent success in the production of transgenic and knockout animals using SSCs has opened up new experimental possibilities, several problems, including the low efficiency of germ cell transplantation and poor fertility rates, remain to be resolved. In the present study, we took advantage of the xenogeneic transplantation to resolve these problems. Rat SSCs were transduced in vitro with a lentiviral vector that expressed enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), and then transplanted into the testes of immunodeficient mice. The transduced rat SSCs produced EGFP-expressing spermatogenic cells, and microinsemination using these cells was used to produce transgenic rats, which stably transmitted the transgene to the next generation. Thus, xenogeneic transplantation is a powerful strategy for transgenesis, and smaller xenogeneic surrogates can be used for male germline modification using SSCs.     

Developments in techniques for the isolation,enrichment, main culture conditions and identification of spermatogonial stem cells

The in vitro culture system of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) provides a basis for studies on spermatogenesis, and also contributes to the development of new methods for the preservation of livestock and animal genetic modification. In vitro culture systems have mainly been established for mouse SSCs, but are lacking for farm animals. We reviewed and analyzed the current progress in SSC techniques such as isolation, purification, cultivation and identification. Based on the published studies, we concluded that two-step enzyme digestion and magnetic-activated cell sorting are fast becoming the main methods for isolation and enrichment of SSCs. With regard to the culture systems, serum and feeders were earlier thought to play an important role in the self-renewal and proliferation of SSCs, but serum- and feeder-free culture systems as a means of overcoming the limitations of SSC differentiation in long-term SSC culture are being explored. However, there is still a need to establish more efficient and ideal culture systems that can also be used for SSC culture in larger mammals. Although the lack of SSC-specific surface markers has seriously affected the efficiency of purification and identification, the transgenic study is helpful for our identification of SSCs. Therefore, future studies on SSC techniques should focus on improving serum- and feeder-free culture techniques, and discovering and identifying specific surface markers of SSCs, which will provide new ideas for the optimization of SSC culture systems for mice and promote related studies in farm animals.     

Reestablishment of spermatogenesis after more than 20 years of cryopreservation of rat spermatogonial stem cells reveals an important impact in differentiation capacity

Treatment of cancer in children is increasingly successful but leaves many prepubertal boys suffering from infertility or subfertility later in life. A current strategy to preserve fertility in these boys is to cryopreserve a testicular biopsy prior to treatment with the expectation of future technologies allowing for the reintroduction of stem cells and restoration of spermatogenesis. Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) form the basis of male reproduction, differentiating into all germ cell types, including mature spermatozoa and can regenerate spermatogenesis following transplantation into an infertile testis. Here, we demonstrate that rat SSCs frozen for more than 20 years can be transplanted into recipient mice and produce all differentiating germ cell types. However, compared with freshly isolated cells or those frozen for a short period of time, long-frozen cells do not colonize efficiently and showed reduced production of spermatids. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed similar profiles of gene expression changes between short- and long-frozen cells as compared with fresh immediately after thawing. Conversely, following transplantation, long-frozen samples showed enhanced stem cell signaling in the undifferentiated spermatogonia compartment, consistent with self-renewal and a lack of differentiation. In addition, long-frozen samples showed fewer round spermatids with detectable protamine expression, suggesting a partial block of spermatogenesis after meiosis resulting in a lack of elongating spermatids. These findings strongly suggest that prolonged cryopreservation can impact the success of transplantation to produce spermatogenesis, which may not be revealed by analysis of the cells immediately after thawing. Our analysis uncovered persistent effects of long-term freezing not found in other cryopreservation studies that lacked functional regeneration of the tissue and this phenomenon must be accounted for any future therapeutic application.

This study shows that spermatogonial stem cells frozen for more than 20 years can repopulate the niche when transplanted into an infertile host, but with lower efficiency and displaying abnormal spermatogenesis compared to fresh or short-term frozen cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals details of the dysregulated signaling.