Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, 712000, Shaanxi, China.
School of Basic Medicine, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China.
Mol Cell Biochem. 2021 Apr;476(4):1813-1823. doi: 10.1007/s11010-020-04028-7. Epub 2021 Jan 18.
Spermatogenesis is usually accompanied throughout mammalian lifetime, transmitting genetic information to the next generation, which is mainly dependent on the self-renewal and differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). With further investigation on profiles of SSCs, the previous prevailing orthodoxy that SSCs are unipotent stem cells to differentiate into spermatids only, has been challenged. More notably, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that SSCs are capable of giving rise to cell lineages of the three germ layers, highlighting potential important applications of SSCs for regenerative medicine. Nevertheless, it is unknown how the proliferation and stemness maintenance of SSCs are regulated intrinsically and strictly controlled in a special niche microenvironment in the seminiferous tubules. Based on the special niche microenvironment for SSCs, it is of vital interest to summarize the recent knowledge regarding several critical bioactive molecules in the self-renewal and stemness maintenance of SSCs. In this review, we discuss most recent findings about these critical bioactive factors and further address the new advances on the self-renewal and stemness maintenance of SSCs.
精子发生通常伴随着哺乳动物的一生，将遗传信息传递给下一代，这主要依赖于精原干细胞（SSCs）的自我更新和分化。随着对 SSCs 特征的进一步研究，以前普遍认为 SSCs 是只能分化为精细胞的单能干细胞的观点受到了挑战。更值得注意的是，越来越多的证据表明 SSCs 能够产生三个胚层的细胞谱系，突出了 SSCs 在再生医学中的潜在重要应用。然而，目前尚不清楚 SSCs 的增殖和干性维持是如何在生精小管的特殊龛位微环境中内在调节和严格控制的。基于 SSCs 的特殊龛位微环境，总结关于 SSCs 自我更新和干性维持的几个关键生物活性分子的最新知识至关重要。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了这些关键生物活性因子的最新发现，并进一步探讨了 SSCs 自我更新和干性维持的新进展。
