GrowSperm Publications

GrowSperm – Dissertations

  • Masliukaite I, Characterisation of human spermatogonial stem cell propagation in vivo and in vitro. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2022
  • Portel J, Spermatogonial stem cell-based models for male fertility preservation. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2020
  • Kurek M, Laminins in stemness and germ cell development in human. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2019
  • Ntemou E, Experimental approaches to improve immature testis tissue transplantation for fertility restoration. VUB, Brussels, Belgium, 2019
  • Onofre J, Testicular cell freezing for fertility preservation in pre-pubertal boys undergoing gonadotoxic therapy. VUB, Brussels, Belgium, 2019
  • Hutka M, Experimental approaches to studying human testicular development. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, 2019
  • Alves-Lopes JP, Novel culture systems to model testicular function and organization. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018
  • Sharma S, Evaluating growth and differentiation of testicular tissue using ex vivo approaches. University of Münster, Münster, Germany, 2018
  • Mincheva M, Reassembly of adult human testicular cells in vitro. University of Münster, Münster, Germany, 2018

GrowSperm – Publications

Early testicular maturation is sensitive to depletion of spermatogonial pool in sickle cell disease

 
Haematologica 2021 Dec 9. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2021.279253. Online ahead of print.

Self-organising human gonads generated by a Matrigel-based gradient system

 
BMC Biol. 2021 Sep 23;19(1):212. doi: 10.1186/s12915-021-01149-3.

Advances in three-dimensional culture technologies have led to progression in systems used to model the gonadal microenvironment in vitro. Despite demonstrating basic functionality, tissue organisation is often limited. We have previously detailed a three-dimensional culture model termed the three-layer gradient system to generate rat testicular organoids in vitro. Here we extend the model to human first-trimester embryonic gonadal tissue…..

Spermatogonia Loss Correlates with LAMA 1 Expression in Human Prepubertal Testes Stored for Fertility Preservation

Magdalena Kurek 1Elisabet Åkesson 2 3Masahito Yoshihara 4Elizabeth Oliver 1Yanhua Cui 1Martin Becker 5João Pedro Alves-Lopes 1Ragnar Bjarnason 6 7Patrik Romerius 8Mikael Sundin 9 10Ulrika Norén Nyström 11Cecilia Langenskiöld 12Hartmut Vogt 13Lars Henningsohn 14Cecilia Petersen 1Olle Söder 1Jingtao Guo 15Rod T Mitchell 16 17Kirsi Jahnukainen 1 18Jan-Bernd Stukenborg 1

Cells. 2021 Jan 27;10(2):241. doi: 10.3390/cells10020241.         

Fertility preservation for male childhood cancer survivors not yet capable of producing mature spermatozoa, relies on experimental approaches such as testicular explant culture. Although the first steps in somatic maturation can be observed in human testicular explant cultures, germ cell depletion is a common obstacle. Hence, understanding the spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) niche environment and in particular, specific components such as the seminiferous basement membrane (BM) will allow progression of testicular explant cultures. Here, we revealed that the seminiferous BM …

Single-cell analysis of the developing human testis reveals somatic niche cell specification and fetal germline stem cell establishment.

Guo J, Sosa E, Chitiashvili T, Nie X, Rojas EJ, Oliver E; DonorConnect, Plath K, Hotaling JM, Stukenborg JB, Clark AT, Cairns BR. Cell Stem Cell. 2021 Apr 1;28(4):764-778.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2020.12.004. Epub 2021 Jan 15.PMID: 33453151

To better understand, we profiled and analyzed 32,500 single-cell transcriptomes of testicular cells from embryonic, fetal, and infant stages. Our data show that at 6-7 weeks postfertilization, as the testicular cords are established, the Sertoli and interstitial cells …

Fertility preservation in boys: recent developments and new insights .

Goossens E, Jahnukainen K, Mitchell RT, van Pelt A, Pennings G, Rives N, Poels J, Wyns C, Lane S, Rodriguez-Wallberg KA, Rives A, Valli-Pulaski H, Steimer S, Kliesch S, Braye A, Andres MM, Medrano J, Ramos L, Kristensen SG, Andersen CY, Bjarnason R, Orwig KE, Neuhaus N, Stukenborg JB. Hum Reprod Open. 2020 Jun 6;2020(3):hoaa016. doi: 10.1093/hropen/hoaa016. eCollection 2020.PMID: 32529047 Free PMC article.

BACKGROUND: Infertility is an important side effect of treatments used for cancer and other non-malignant conditions in males. This may be due to the loss of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) and/or altered functionality of testicular somatic cells (e.g …


Fertility Preservation in Childhood Cancer: Endocrine Activity in Prepubertal Human Testis Xenografts Exposed to a Pubertal Hormone Environment.

Hutka M, Kadam P, Van Saen D, Homer NZM, Onofre J, Wallace WHB, Smith LB, Stukenborg JB, Goossens E, Mitchell RT. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Sep 30;12(10):2830. doi: 10.3390/cancers12102830.PMID: 33008013 Free PMC article.

Regardless of the transplantation site and treatment, initiation and maintenance of androgen receptor (AR) expression were observed in Sertoli cells, indicating commitment towards a more differentiated status. …However, alternative hormone regimens or additional factors …


Cisplatin and carboplatin result in similar gonadotoxicity in immature human testis with implications for fertility preservation in childhood cancer.

Tharmalingam MD, Matilionyte G, Wallace WHB, Stukenborg JB, Jahnukainen K, Oliver E, Goriely A, Lane S, Guo J, Cairns B, Jorgensen A, Allen CM, Lopes F, Anderson RA, Spears N, Mitchell RT.BMC Med. 2020 Dec 4;18(1):374. doi: 10.1186/s12916-020-01844-y.PMID: 33272271 Free PMC article.

RESULTS: Cisplatin exposure resulted in a significant reduction in the total number of germ cells (- 44%, p < 0.0001) in human foetal testis, which involved an initial loss of gonocytes followed by a significant reduction in spermatogonia. …Cisplatin exposure resulted


Characterization and population dynamics of germ cells in adult macaque testicular cultures.

Sharma S, Schlatt S, Van Pelt A, Neuhaus N. PLoS One. 2019 Jun 21;14(6):e0218194. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218194. eCollection 2019.PMID: 31226129 Free PMC article.

An extended marker gene panel (SOX9, VIM, ACTA2; UTF1, FGFR3, MAGEA4, BOLL, DDX4) was then employed to assess the changes in gene expression levels and throughout the in vitro culture period. Dynamics of the spermatogonial population was further investigated by quantitativ …

Impact of restoring male fertility with transplantation of in vitro propagated spermatogonial stem cells on the health of their offspring throughout life.

Serrano JB, van Eekelen R, de Winter-Korver CM, van Daalen SKM, Tabeling NC, Catsburg LAE, Gijbels MJJ, Mulder CL, van Pelt AMM. Clin Transl Med. 2021 Oct;11(10):e531. doi: 10.1002/ctm2.531.PMID: 34709748 Free PMC article. 

Single-cell RNA-seq unravels alterations of the human spermatogonial stem cell compartment in patients with impaired spermatogenesis.

Di Persio S, Tekath T, Siebert-Kuss LM, Cremers JF, Wistuba J, Li X, Meyer Zu Hörste G, Drexler HCA, Wyrwoll MJ, Tüttelmann F, Dugas M, Kliesch S, Schlatt S, Laurentino S, Neuhaus N. Cell Rep Med. 2021 Sep 9;2(9):100395. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100395. eCollection 2021 Sep 21.PMID: 34622232 Free PMC article.

Intriguingly, the EGR4-regulated chromatin-associated transcriptional repressor UTF1 is downregulated at transcriptional and protein levels. This is associated with changes in spermatogonial chromatin structure and fewer A(dark) spermatogonia, characterized by tightly comp …

Meiotic Chromosome Synapsis and XY-Body Formation In Vitro.

Lei Q, Zhang E, van Pelt AMM, Hamer G. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021 Oct 14;12:761249. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.761249. eCollection 2021.PMID: 34721307 Free PMC article.

We therefore optimized our in vitro culture system of meiosis from male germline stem cells (mGSCs) in order to achieve full chromosome synapsis, XY-body formation and meiotic crossovers. …This dish already contained a freshly plated monolayer of proliferatively i …


Long-Term Maintenance and Meiotic Entry of Early Germ Cells in Murine Testicular Organoids Functionalized by 3D Printed Scaffolds and Air-Medium Interface Cultivation.

Richer G, Hobbs RM, Loveland KL, Goossens E, Baert Y. Front Physiol. 2021 Dec 24;12:757565. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.757565. eCollection 2021.PMID: 35002756 Free PMC article.

Here, testicular organoids (TOs) were generated from two different mouse strains in 3D printed one-layer scaffolds (1LS) at the air-medium interface displaying tubule-like structures and Leydig cell functionality supporting long-term survival and differentiation of germ cells 

Unique metabolic phenotype and its transition during maturation of juvenile male germ cells.

Voigt AL, Kondro DA, Powell D, Valli-Pulaski H, Ungrin M, Stukenborg JB, Klein C, Lewis IA, Orwig KE, Dobrinski I. FASEB J. 2021 May;35(5):e21513. doi: 10.1096/fj.202002799R.PMID: 33811704 Free PMC article.

Human male reproductive development has a prolonged prepubertal period characterized by juvenile quiescence of germ cells with immature spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) precursors (gonocytes) present in the testis for an extended period of time. …With maturat …

The Dynamic Transcriptional Cell Atlas of Testis Development during Human Puberty.

Guo J, Nie X, Giebler M, Mlcochova H, Wang Y, Grow EJ; DonorConnect, Kim R, Tharmalingam M, Matilionyte G, Lindskog C, Carrell DT, Mitchell RT, Goriely A, Hotaling JM, Cairns BR.Cell Stem Cell. 2020 Feb 6;26(2):262-276.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2019.12.005. Epub 2020 Jan 9.PMID: 31928944 Free PMC article.

The human testis undergoes dramatic developmental and structural changes during puberty, including proliferation and maturation of somatic niche cells, and the onset of spermatogenesis. To characterize this understudied process, we profiled and analyzed single-cell transcr …