Abstract
Embryonic stem cell lines derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst are pluripotent (they can differentiate into all the different cell types) and have the ability to self-renewal in vitro, remaining undifferentiated. It has been demonstrated that murine embryonic stem cells can give rise to structures very similar to sperm and oocytes in vitro. These differentiated cells are able to undergo meiosis, generating haploid gametes, which, in the case of oocytes, are able to form structures mimicking blastocysts. However, none of these blastocysts have survived to embryonic development. In the case of male gametes, successful progeny has been obtained after injection into normal oocytes, but the obtained progeny died prematurely. Experimental studies have also demonstrated that it is possible to obtain germ cells from human embryonic stem cells, although their functionality to generate successful and healthy progeny has not been demonstrated to date. The problems of meiosis completion and acquisition of the proper epigenetic pattern remain to be surpassed. Recent studies have reported the obtaining of germ cell-like cells from fetal and adult stem cells (from porcine skin and mice bone marrow, respectively). In addition, against present dogma, which supports that oocyte production in female mammals stops before birth, some recent studies have revealed that there is postnatal oogenesis in the adult mice ovaries. Nevertheless, there is much controversy regarding the results of these studies. Anyhow, a recent work has shown that meiosis, neo-oogenesis, and germ stem cells are unlikely to occur in normal adult human ovaries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Evans MJ, Kaufman MH. Establishment in culture of pluripotential cells from mouse embryos. Nature 1981;292:154–6.
Martin GR. Isolation of a pluripotent cell line from early mouse embryos cultured in medium conditioned by teratocarcinoma stem cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1981;78:7634–8.
Thomson JA, Itskovitz-Eldor J, Shapiro SS, et al. Embryonic stem cell lines derived from human blastocysts. Science 1998;282:1145–7.
Nakahata T, Ogawa M. Identification in culture of a class of hemopoietic colony-forming units with extensive capability to self-renew and generate multipotential hemopoietic colonies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1982;79:3843–7.
Miki T, Lehmann T, Cai H, et al. Stem cell characteristics of amniotic epithelial cells. Stem Cells 2005;23:1549–59.
De Coppi P, Bartsch G Jr., Siddiqui MM, et al. Isolation of amniotic stem cell lines with potential for therapy. Nat Biotechnol 2007;25:100–6.
Jackson KA, Mi T, Goodell MA. Hematopoietic potential of stem cells isolated from murine skeletal muscle. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1999;96:14482–6.
Pittenger MF, Mackay AM, Beck SC, et al. Multilineage potential of adult human mesenchymal stem cells. Science 1999;284:143–7.
Gage FH. Mammalian neural stem cells. Science 2000;287:1433–8.
Bonner-Weir S, Sharma A. Pancreatic stem cells. J Pathol 2002;197:519–26.
Forbes S, Vig P, Poulsom R, et al. Hepatic stem cells. J Pathol 2002;197:510–8.
Zuk PA, Zhu M, Ashjian P, et al. Human adipose tissue is a source of multipotent stem cells. Mol Biol Cell 2002;13:4279–95.
Alonso L, Fuchs E. Stem cells of the skin epithelium. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2003;100 Suppl 1:11830–5.
Zhao M, Momma S, Delfani K, et al. Evidence for neurogenesis in the adult mammalian substantia nigra. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2003;100:7925–30.
Hubner K, Fuhrmann G, Christenson LK, et al. Derivation of oocytes from mouse embryonic stem cells. Science 2003;300:1251–6.
Toyooka Y, Tsunekawa N, Akasu R, Noce T. Embryonic stem cells can form germ cells in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2003;100:11457–62.
Geijsen N, Horoschak M, Kim K, et al. Derivation of embryonic germ cells and male gametes from embryonic stem cells. Nature 2004;427:148–54.
Lacham-Kaplan O, Chy H, Trounson A. Testicular cell conditioned medium supports differentiation of embryonic stem cells into ovarian structures containing oocytes. Stem Cells 2006;24:266–73.
Novak I, Lightfoot DA, Wang H, et al. Mouse embryonic stem cells form follicle-like ovarian structures but do not progress through meiosis. Stem Cells 2006;24:1931–6.
Nayernia K, Nolte J, Michelmann HW, et al. In vitro-differentiated embryonic stem cells give rise to male gametes that can generate offspring mice. Dev Cell 2006;11:125–32.
Qing T, Shi Y, Qin H, et al. Induction of oocyte-like cells from mouse embryonic stem cells by co-culture with ovarian granulosa cells. Differentiation 2007;75:902–11.
Clark AT, Bodnar MS, Fox M, et al. Spontaneous differentiation of germ cells from human embryonic stem cells in vitro. Hum Mol Genet 2004;13:727–39.
Kee K, Gonsalves JM, Clark AT, Pera RA. Bone morphogenetic proteins induce germ cell differentiation from human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells Dev 2006;15:831–7.
Chen HF, Kuo HC, Chien CL, et al. Derivation, characterization and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells: comparing serum-containing versus serum-free media and evidence of germ cell differentiation. Hum Reprod 2007;22:567–77.
Johnson J, Canning J, Kaneko T, et al. Germline stem cells and follicular renewal in the postnatal mammalian ovary. Nature 2004;428:145–50.
Johnson J, Bagley J, Skaznik-Wikiel M, et al. Oocyte generation in adult mammalian ovaries by putative germ cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood. Cell 2005;122:303–15.
Bukovsky A, Svetlikova M, Caudle MR. Oogenesis in cultures derived from adult human ovaries. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 2005;3:17.
Liu Y, Wu C, Lyu Q, et al. Germline stem cells and neo-oogenesis in the adult human ovary. Dev Biol 2007;306:112–20.
Byskov AG, Faddy MJ, Lemmen JG, Andersen CY. Eggs forever? Differentiation 2005;73:438–46.
Eggan K, Jurga S, Gosden R, et al. Ovulated oocytes in adult mice derive from non-circulating germ cells. Nature 2006;441:1109–14.
Tilly JL, Johnson J. Recent arguments against germ cell renewal in the adult human ovary: is an absence of marker gene expression really acceptable evidence of an absence of oogenesis. Cell Cycle 2007;6:879–83.
Lee HJ, Selesniemi K, Niikura Y, et al. Bone marrow transplantation generates immature oocytes and rescues long-term fertility in a preclinical mouse model of chemotherapy-induced premature ovarian failure. J Clin Oncol 2007;25:3198–204.
Nayernia K, Lee JH, Drusenheimer N, et al. Derivation of male germ cells from bone marrow stem cells. Lab Invest 2006;86:654–63.
Dyce PW, Wen L, Li J. In vitro germline potential of stem cells derived from fetal porcine skin. Nat Cell Biol 2006;8:384–90.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Marqués-Marí, A., Medrano, J., Simón, C. (2009). Differentiating Gametes from Stem Cells. In: Baharvand, H. (eds) Trends in Stem Cell Biology and Technology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-905-5_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-905-5_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-60327-904-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-60327-905-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)