Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA; Institute of Genomic Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2020 Dec;67:71-78. doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2020.07.005. Epub 2020 Sep 17.
Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are essential for long-term spermatogenesis and are the subject of considerable clinical interest, as 'SSC therapy' has the potential to cure some forms of male infertility. Recently, we have learned more about SSCs and spermatogenesis in general from a plethora of studies that performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) analysis on dissociated cells from human, macaque, and/or mice testes. Here, we discuss what scRNAseq analysis has revealed about SSC precursor cells, the initial generation of SSCs during perinatal development, and their heterogeneity once established. scRNAseq studies have also uncovered unexpected heterogeneity of the larger class of cells that includes SSCs - undifferentiated spermatogonia. This raises the controversial possibility that multiple SSC subsets exist, which has implications for mechanisms underlying spermatogenesis and future SSC therapeutic approaches.
精原干细胞(SSC)对于长期的精子发生至关重要,并且具有相当大的临床应用价值,因为“SSC 疗法”有可能治愈某些形式的男性不育症。最近,我们从大量对来自人类、猕猴和/或小鼠睾丸的分离细胞进行单细胞 RNA 测序(scRNAseq)分析的研究中,进一步了解了 SSCs 和一般精子发生。在这里,我们讨论了 scRNAseq 分析揭示了哪些关于 SSC 前体细胞、围产期发育过程中最初产生的 SSCs 以及它们一旦建立后的异质性的信息。scRNAseq 研究还揭示了包括 SSCs 在内的更大类细胞的意外异质性——未分化精原细胞。这提出了一个有争议的可能性,即存在多个 SSC 亚群,这对精子发生的机制和未来的 SSC 治疗方法都有影响。