University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Veterinary Biosciences, VMBSB, 2001, S. Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, IL 61802, USA.
Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2010 Apr;10(4):519-30. doi: 10.1517/14712591003614731.
Embryonic stem (ES) cells have potential for use in regenerative medicine, but use of these cells is hindered by moral, legal and ethical issues. Induced pluripotent cells have promise in regenerative medicine. However, since generation of these cells involves genetic manipulation, it also faces significant hurdles before clinical use. This review discusses spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) as a potential alternative source of pluripotent cells for use in human regenerative medicine.
The potential of SSCs to give rise to a wide range of other cell types either directly, when recombined with instructive inducers, or indirectly, after being converted to ES-like cells. Current understanding of the differentiation potential of murine SSCs and recent progress in isolating and culturing human SSCs and demonstrating their properties is also discussed.
Insight into the plasticity of SSCs and the unique properties of these cells for regenerative applications, the limitations of SSCs for stem-cell-based therapy and the potential alternatives available.
If methodologies for isolation and conversion of adult human SSCs directly into other cell types can be effectively developed, SSCs could represent an important alternate source of pluripotent cells that can be used in human tissue repair and/or regeneration.
胚胎干细胞（ES 细胞）具有用于再生医学的潜力，但这些细胞的使用受到道德、法律和伦理问题的阻碍。诱导多能细胞在再生医学中有应用前景。然而，由于这些细胞的产生涉及基因操作，因此在临床应用之前还面临着重大障碍。这篇综述讨论了精原干细胞（SSC）作为一种潜在的多能细胞替代来源，可用于人类再生医学。
SSC 具有产生广泛的其他细胞类型的潜力，要么直接产生，当与指令性诱导物重组时，要么间接产生，当被转化为 ES 样细胞时。本文还讨论了对小鼠 SSC 分化潜力的现有认识，以及最近在分离和培养人类 SSC 并证明其特性方面的进展。
深入了解 SSC 的可塑性以及这些细胞在再生应用中的独特特性、SSC 用于基于干细胞的治疗的局限性以及可获得的潜在替代方案。
如果能够有效地开发出分离和转化成人 SSC 直接为其他细胞类型的方法，那么 SSC 可能代表一种重要的多能细胞替代来源，可用于人类组织修复和/或再生。
