Xenotransplantation exposes the etiology of azoospermia factor (AZF) induced male sterility.

Abstract

Ramathal et al. have employed an elegant xenotransplantation technique to study the fate of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from fertile males and from males carrying Y chromosome deletions of the azoospermia factor (AZF) region. When placed in a mouse testis niche, hiPSCs from fertile males differentiate into germ cell-like cells (GCLCs). Highlighting the crucial role of cell autonomous factors in male sterility, hiPSCs derived from azoospermic males prove to be less successful under similar circumstances. Their studies argue that the agametic "Sertoli cell only" phenotype of two of the AZF deletions likely arises from a defect in the maintenance of germline stem cells (GSCs) rather than from a defect in their specification. These observations underscore the importance of the dialogue between the somatic niche and its inhabitant stem cells, and open up interesting questions concerning the functioning of the somatic niche and how it communicates to the GSCs.

• Authors: Justinn Barr, Daniel Gordon, Paul Schedl, Girish Deshpande
• Journal: BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology (Bioessays) Vol. 37 Issue 3 Pg. 278-83 (Mar 2015) ISSN: 1521-1878 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25524208 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2015 WILEY Periodicals, Inc.

Topics

• Animals
• Azoospermia (genetics, therapy)
• Cell Differentiation
• Drosophila
• Female
• Heterografts
• Humans
• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (transplantation)
• Male
• Mice
• Ovary (pathology)
• Stem Cell Niche
• Testis (pathology)