Department of Stem Cell Biology, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul 05029, Korea.
Center for Stem Cell Research, Institute of Advanced Biomedical Science, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Korea.
Mol Cells. 2018 Jul 31;41(7):631-638. doi: 10.14348/molcells.2018.2294. Epub 2018 Jul 10.
Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) derived from mouse testis are unipotent in regard of spermatogenesis. Our previous study demonstrated that SSCs can be fully reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells, so called germline-derived pluripotent stem cells (gPS cells), on feeder cells (mouse embryonic fibroblasts), which supports SSC proliferation and induction of pluripotency. Because of an uncontrollable microenvironment caused by interactions with feeder cells, feeder-based SSC reprogramming is not suitable for elucidation of the self-reprogramming mechanism by which SSCs are converted into pluripotent stem cells. Recently, we have established a Matrigel-based SSC expansion culture system that allows long-term SSC proliferation without mouse embryonic fibroblast support. In this study, we developed a new feeder-free SSC self-reprogramming protocol based on the Matrigel-based culture system. The gPS cells generated using a feeder-free reprogramming system showed pluripotency at the molecular and cellular levels. The differentiation potential of gPS cells was confirmed and . Our study shows for the first time that the induction of SSC pluripotency can be achieved without feeder cells. The newly developed feeder-free self-reprogramming system could be a useful tool to reveal the mechanism by which unipotent cells are self-reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells.
精原干细胞（SSC）来源于睾丸，在精子发生方面具有单能性。我们之前的研究表明，SSC 可以在饲养细胞（小鼠胚胎成纤维细胞）上被完全重编程为多能干细胞，即生殖系来源的多能干细胞（gPS 细胞），这支持 SSC 的增殖和多能性诱导。由于与饲养细胞相互作用导致不可控的微环境，基于饲养细胞的 SSC 重编程不适合阐明 SSC 转化为多能干细胞的自我重编程机制。最近，我们建立了基于 Matrigel 的 SSC 扩增培养系统，该系统允许 SSC 在没有小鼠胚胎成纤维细胞支持的情况下进行长期增殖。在这项研究中，我们基于基于 Matrigel 的培养系统开发了一种新的无饲养细胞的 SSC 自我重编程方案。使用无饲养细胞重编程系统生成的 gPS 细胞在分子和细胞水平上表现出多能性。gPS 细胞的分化潜能得到了证实。我们的研究首次表明，在没有饲养细胞的情况下可以诱导 SSC 多能性。新开发的无饲养细胞自我重编程系统可能是揭示单能细胞自我重编程为多能干细胞的机制的有用工具。
