Reconstitution of sex-determination process and testicular environment using mouse pluripotent stem cells

A proper reconstitution of the process in culture will provide not only an appropriate tool for fully understanding the process but also creation of gametes in culture, so called in vitro gametogenesis. Here, we report reconstitution of testicular gonadal somatic cells using mouse pluripotent stem cells.

The reconstitution recapitulated a trajectory of the sex-determination process in vivo and consequently provide cell types forming seminiferous tubules and adjacent interstitial tissues including steroidogenic cells. Importantly, the reconstituted testicular tissue incorporated pluripotent stem cell-derived primordial germ cells and provided an environment sufficient for differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells. These spermatogonial stem cells can propagated in culture while keeping potential to differentiate into spermatozoa capable of full-term development with in vitro fertilization followed by transplantation into surrogate mothers.