Oktem Ozgur, Oktay Kutluk
Laboratory of Molecular Reproduction and Fertility Preservation, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York 10595, USA.
Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today. 2009 Mar;87(1):90-5. doi: 10.1002/bdrc.20143.
It is a central dogma in reproductive biology that oogenesis is completed before or just after birth and that the postnatal ovary is endowed by a fixed and non-renewing number of oocytes in mammals. However, this widely accepted doctrine was recently challenged by studies showing regeneration of oocytes from putative germ cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood. These results not only triggered an enormous amount of interest among reproductive biologists but also a great deal of debate. In this review we will provide an update on the molecular aspects of the formation of primordial germ cells (PGC), the precursors of adult gametocytes, beginning from their specification to their migration to prospective gonads and formation of the ovary and follicular structures. We will also discuss more recent studies that showed in vivo regeneration of germ cells in the postnatal ovary in situ, along with other pioneering works that demonstrated generation of germ cells in vitro from embryonic and somatic stem cells.
生殖生物学中的一个核心教条是，卵子发生在出生前或出生后不久就已完成，并且在哺乳动物中，出生后的卵巢拥有固定且不可更新的卵母细胞数量。然而，最近的研究对这一被广泛接受的学说提出了挑战，这些研究表明骨髓和外周血中的假定生殖细胞可再生卵母细胞。这些结果不仅引发了生殖生物学家的极大兴趣，也引发了大量争论。在这篇综述中，我们将提供关于原始生殖细胞（PGC）形成的分子方面的最新信息，原始生殖细胞是成年配子细胞的前体，从其特化开始，到迁移至预期的性腺以及卵巢和卵泡结构的形成。我们还将讨论最近的研究，这些研究显示出生后卵巢原位生殖细胞的体内再生，以及其他一些开创性工作，这些工作证明了从胚胎干细胞和体干细胞体外生成生殖细胞。
