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Coculture of Spermatogonia With Somatic Cells in a Novel Three-Dimensional Soft-Agar-Culture-System

MAHMOUD ABU ELHIJA

MAHMOUD HULEIHEL^,||

EITAN LUNENFELD

STEFAN SCHLATT^,||

From the ^* Institute of Reproductive Medicine of the University, Münster, Germany; the Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Health Sciences and Soroka University Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel; and the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Correspondence to: Eberhard Nieschlag, Institute of Reproductive Medicine of the University, Domagkstrasse 11, 48129 Münster, Germany (e-mail: Eberhard.Nieschlag{at}ukmuenster.de).

Isolation and culture of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) has become an approach to study the milieu and the factors controlling their expansion and differentiation. Traditional conventional cell culture does not mimic the complex situation in the seminiferous epithelium providing a basal, intraepithelial, and adluminal compartment to the developing male germ cells. SSCs are located in specific stem cell niches whose features and functional parameters are thus far poorly understood. It was the aim of this study to isolate SSCs and to explore their expansion and differentiation potential in a novel three-dimensional Soft-Agar-Culture-System (SACS). This system provides three-dimensional structural support and multiple options for manipulations through the addition of factors, cells, or other changes. The system has revolutionized research on blood stem cells by providing a tool for clonal analysis of expanding and differentiating blood cell lineages. In our studies, SSCs are enriched using Gfr-1 as a specific surface marker and magnetic-activated cell sorting as a separation approach. At termination of the culture, we determined the type and number of germ cells obtained after the first 24 hours of culture. We also determined cell types and numbers in expanding cell clones of differentiating germ cells during the subsequent 15 days of culture. We analyzed a supportive effect of somatic cell lineages added to the solid part of the culture system. We conclude that our enrichment and culture approach is highly useful for exploration of SSC expansion and have found indications that the system supports differentiation up to the level of postmeiotic germ cells.

     Key words: Spermatogonial stem cells, spermatogenesis, early culture effects, in vitro meiosis