Establishment of adult mouse testis-derived multipotent germ line stem cells and comparison of lineage-specific differentiation potential

Effects of paracrine factors on CD24 expression and neural differentiation of male germline stem cells

“…These cells can differentiate into cell types derived from all three embryonic germ layers (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). We recently reported that mGSCs derived from adult mouse testis are pluripotent and can differentiate similarly to ESCs and iPSCs (17). These data demonstrate that the male GSC lineage can be altered in vitro and that unipotent cells can become pluripotent without the addition of exogenous transcription factors.…”

“…To assess the effects of the different media on the differentiation of the mGSCs, EBs were generated and cultured for 2 days in N2/B27, NeuroCult, or standard ESC medium in the absence of any factors, as previously described (17). Nestin is an intermediate filament-related protein, which has to date been found only in vertebrates.…”

Platelet-derived growth factor receptor-alpha positive cardiac progenitor cells derived from multipotent germline stem cells are capable of cardiomyogenesisin vitroandin vivo

“…The BMP signaling pathways play a pivotal role in cardiogenesis [ 17 , 18 ], and our previous findings show that the culture of mGSCs with BMP4 (under serum-free conditions) promotes cardiomyocyte differentiation [ 14 ]. To investigate the influence of BMP4 and FBS to induce PDGFRA + cardiac progenitor differentiation, mGSCs were seeded in 24-well ultra-low attachment plate at a density of 4 ×10 4 cells/well, and treated with N2/B27 medium containing BMP4 (5 ng/mL) and/or FBS (15%).…”

“…mGSCs were derived from transgenic mice expressing Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (EGFP) under the control of the POU5f1, promoter and distal enhancer. This mouse represents an effective tool for studying or monitoring pluripotency since Pouf1 is a robust marker for pluripotency [ 14 ]. The E14 mouse ES cell line, neural stem cell-derived iPS (NSC-iPS; iPS) cell line, and mGSCs were cultivated on mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) in standard ESC medium Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 15% FBS, 1×MEM nonessential amino acids, 2 mM L-glutamine, penicillin/streptomycin, 50 μM β-mercaptoethanol, and 10 3 U/mL leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) as described previously described [ 14 ].…”

“…Initially thought to be unipotent, germline stem cells (GSCs) cultured under defined conditions are capable of acquiring pluripotency [ 8 – 13 ]. Recently, we demonstrated that multipotent germline stem cells (mGSCs) express markers of pluripotency, can differentiate into derivatives of all three germ layers in vitro , and are capable of forming teratomas in immune deficient mice [ 14 ]. Additionally, mGSCs are capable of differentiatiate into cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells in vitro , and in vivo studies suggest that these cells have ability to restore functions in damaged hearts of animal models [ 5 , 15 ].…”