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Sphere-formation culture of testicular germ cells in the common marmoset, a small New World monkey

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Abstract

Spermatogonia are specialized cells responsible for continuous spermatogenesis and the production of offspring. Because of this biological property, in vitro culture of spermatogonia provides a powerful methodology to advance reproductive biology and engineering. However, methods for culturing primate spermatogonia are poorly established. We have designed a novel method for culturing spermatogonia in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a small primate. By using our method with a suite of growth factors, adult marmoset testis-derived germ cells could be cultured in the form of a floating sphere for several weeks. Notably, this method could be applied not only to freshly isolated cells but also to cryopreserved cell stocks. The spheres enriched spermatogonia and early spermatocytes, and could be assembled from a C-KIT+ spermatogonial population. Techniques for culturing spermatogonia could facilitate increased understanding of primate reproduction as well as the preservation of valuable biomaterials from nonhuman primates.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (MEXT); the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare; the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); the National Institute of Biomedical Innovation and the Strategic Research Program for Brain Sciences from MEXT; the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D in Science and Technology (FIRST); a Keio University Grant-in-Aid for the Encouragement of Young Medical Scientists; Leave a Nest Grant Life Technologies Japan Award; Interuniversity Bio-Backup Project for Basic Biology; the Brain Sciences Project of the Center for Novel Science Initiatives (CNTI), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS); and Otsuka Toshimi Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Zachary Yu-Ching Lin, Orie Hikabe, Sadafumi Suzuki, Erika Sasaki, Masanori Imamura & Hideyuki Okano

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Takamasa Hirano & Haruhiko Siomi

  3. Department of Applied Developmental Biology, Central Institute for Experimental Animals, 3-25-12 Tonomachi, Kawasaki, 210-0821, Japan

    Erika Sasaki

  4. PRESTO Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan

    Erika Sasaki

  5. Molecular Biology Section, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Masanori Imamura

Authors
  1. Zachary Yu-Ching Lin
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  2. Orie Hikabe
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  3. Sadafumi Suzuki
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  4. Takamasa Hirano
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  5. Haruhiko Siomi
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  6. Erika Sasaki
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  7. Masanori Imamura
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  8. Hideyuki Okano
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Masanori Imamura or Hideyuki Okano.

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Conflict of interest

H.O. is a Scientific Advisory Board Member of San Bio Co. Ltd. The other authors have no competing interests.

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Lin, Z.YC., Hikabe, O., Suzuki, S. et al. Sphere-formation culture of testicular germ cells in the common marmoset, a small New World monkey. Primates 57, 129–135 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0500-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-015-0500-4

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