Liu Ping, Li Zheng, Bo Juan-Jie
Department of Urology/Laboratory of Sperm Development and Genetics, Shanghai Institute of Andrology/Shanghai Human Sperm Bank, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200001, China.
Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue. 2010 Oct;16(10):928-32.
The testicular development and spermatogenesis of mammalians involve complex processes of cell migration, proliferation and differentiation and cell-cell interaction. In spite of extensive researches, many relevant aspects remain unclear. One of the impediments in the studies of testicular development and spermatogenesis of mammalians is the lack of a suitable model. In the last few years, two valuable models were developed for the study of mammalian spermatogenesis: testis tissue from immature animals transplanted ectopically into immunodeficient mice that could survive and produce functional spermatids, and isolated testis cells able to organize and rearrange into seminiferous cords that subsequently undergo complete spermatogenesis. This article presents an update and the applications and prospects of these two methods.
