2012年8月29日 訊 /生物谷BIOON/ --匹茲堡大學醫學院研究人員證實:人類胚胎幹細胞和人誘導性多能幹細胞(iPS細胞)可以被誘導成為精子前體細胞,這表明它未來可能用於恢復不育男性的生育能力,他們的研究結果將發表在Cell Reports雜誌上。
研究報告的主要作者、匹茲堡大學醫學院婦科和生殖科學Charles Easley博士解釋說:不育可能是某些癌症治療所帶來的副作用,因為藥物是通過破壞迅速分裂的細胞來發揮作用,這些迅速分裂的細胞就包括精子的前體細胞。
有越來越多的研究證據證實成年體細胞如皮膚中的細胞可以誘發演變返回到原始狀態,然後重新定向到成為不同類型的細胞。為了探究是否能夠獲得精子細胞,Easley博士和他的同事們從市售的皮膚樣本中獲取培養實驗室級的人iPS細胞,同時從已建立的細胞系中獲取培養人胚胎幹細胞,在通常情況下,人胚胎幹細胞主要用於維持精原幹細胞。
他們發現,兩種幹細胞能夠產生一些關鍵性細胞包括精原幹細胞、包含了細胞減數分裂前完整染色體的精母細胞,染色體數目只有的一半的減數分裂後精母細胞以及圓形精子,其中圓形精子是精子的前體。Easley博士說:以前沒有人能夠在實驗室中使得人誘導性多能幹細胞(iPS細胞)轉化成精子,但這一新研究證明它是可能的。也許有一天,這會導致男性不育症診斷和治療的新方法的出現。(生物谷:Bioon.com)
Direct Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Haploid Spermatogenic Cells
Charles A. Easley, Bart T. Phillips, Megan M. McGuire, Jennifer M. Barringer, Hanna Valli, Brian P. Hermann, Calvin R. Simerly, Aleksander Rajkovic, Toshio Miki, Kyle E. Orwig, Gerald P. Schatten
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) have been shown to differentiate into primordial germ cells (PGCs) but not into spermatogonia, haploid spermatocytes, or spermatids. Here, we show that hESCs and hiPSCs differentiate directly into advanced male germ cell lineages, including postmeiotic, spermatid-like cells, in vitro without genetic manipulation. Furthermore, our procedure mirrors spermatogenesis in vivo by differentiating PSCs into UTF1-, PLZF-, and CDH1-positive spermatogonia-like cells; HIWI- and HILI-positive spermatocyte-like cells; and haploid cells expressing acrosin, transition protein 1, and protamine 1 (proteins that are uniquely found in spermatids and/or sperm). These spermatids show uniparental genomic imprints similar to those of human sperm on two loci: H19 and IGF2. These results demonstrate that male PSCs have the ability to differentiate directly into advanced germ cell lineages and may represent a novel strategy for studying spermatogenesis in vitro.