Phenotypic plasticity of mouse spermatogonial stem cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) continuously undergo self-renewal division to support spermatogenesis. SSCs are thought to have a fixed phenotype, and development of a germ cell transplantation technique facilitated their characterization and prospective isolation in a deterministic manner; however, our in vitro SSC culture experiments indicated heterogeneity of cultured cells and suggested that they might not follow deterministic fate commitment in vitro.

Methodology and principal findings

In this study, we report phenotypic plasticity of SSCs. Although c-kit tyrosine kinase receptor (Kit) is not expressed in SSCs in vivo, it was upregulated when SSCs were cultured on laminin in vitro. Both Kit(-) and Kit(+) cells in culture showed comparable levels of SSC activ

SUBMITTER: Morimoto H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2774941 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature