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First published online 2 December 2004
doi: 10.1242/dev.01555

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Spermatogenesis from epiblast and primordial germ cells following transplantation into postnatal mouse testis

¹ Department of Development and Differentiation, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan
² Horizontal Medical Research Organization, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
³ The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Bioresource Center, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan
⁴ Department of Pathology and Biology of Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: takashi{at}mfour.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp)

Accepted 27 October 2004

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are derived from a population of pluripotent epiblast cells in mice. However, little is known about when and how PGCs acquire the capacity to differentiate into functional germ cells, while keeping the potential to derive pluripotent embryonic germ cells and teratocarcinomas. In this investigation, we show that epiblast cells and PGCs can establish colonies of spermatogenesis after transfer into postnatal seminiferous tubules of surrogate infertile mice. Furthermore, we obtained normal fertile offspring by microinsemination using spermatozoa or spermatids derived from PGCs harvested from fetuses as early as 8.5 days post coitum. Thus, fetal male germ cell development is remarkably flexible, and the maturation process, from epiblast cells through PGCs to postnatal spermatogonia, can occur in the postnatal testicular environment. Primordial germ cell transplantation techniques will also provide a novel tool to assess the developmental potential of PGCs, such as those manipulated in vitro or recovered from embryos harboring lethal mutations.

Key words: Germ cell, Epiblast, Primordial Germ Cell (PGC), Prospermatogonia, Spermatogonia, Testis, Spermatogenesis, Transplantation, Microinsemination

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