Abstract
In the male, gamete production is continuous throughout adult life although some quantitative decline has been observed with advanced age. Only spermatogonia possess the capability of initiating and reinitiating the process of differentiation. In addition, these cells have the capability of self-renewal so that the population of stem cell spermatogonia is not depleted. It is generally thought that only a small percentage of total spermatogonia, the stem cells, possess the capability for self-renewal. Huckins has defined the spermatogonial stem cells morphologically as cells lacking connecting intercellular bridges with other spermatogonia and has called them As or Aisolated cells. In other words, the stem cell spermatogonia are isolated from other cells in whole-mount preparations of seminiferous tubules (1). Huckins’ scheme for spermatogonial renewal (Fig. 3.1 A) is the scheme best accepted by investigators familiar with this field (2–4). Using Huckins’ scheme, investigators from de Rooij’s laboratory (5) have calculated there are only 35,000 such cells in the testis of an adult mouse.
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References
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Russell, L.D., Brinster, R.L. (1998). Spermatogonial Transplantation. In: Zirkin, B.R. (eds) Germ Cell Development, Division, Disruption and Death. Serono Symposia USA Norwell, Massachusetts. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2206-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2206-4_3
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