Germ Cell Transplantation in Pigs1

Male germ cell transplantation in livestock.

Male germ cell transplantation is a powerful approach to study the control of spermatogenesis with the ultimate goal to enhance or suppress male fertility. In livestock animals, applications can be expanded to provide an alternative method of transgenesis and an alternative means of artificial insemination (AI). The transplantation technique uses testis stem cells, harvested from the donor anim...

Germ cell transplantation in fish: basic biology and biotechnological applications

Development of interspecies testicular germ-cell transplantation in flatfish.

Interspecific testicular germ cell (TGC) transplantation was investigated in two commercial flatfish species. Testes from donor species (Senegalese sole) were evaluated using classical histological techniques (haematoxylin-eosin staining and haematoxylin-light green-orange G-acid fuchsine staining), in situ hybridisation and immunohistochemical analysis. Both Ssvasa1-2 mRNAs and SsVasa protein ...

Promise and limitations of germ cell transplantation in the testis.

In 1994, the first successful stem cell transplantation in the mammalian testis was reported (Brinster and Zimmermann, 1994). In the early studies, a mixture of germ cells from either mouse or rat testes was successfully transplanted by microinjection into a germ cell-depleted recipient mouse testis (Clouthier et al, 1996). Stem cells in this mixture colonized the repopulation of all of the ger...

Depletion of endogenous germ cells in male pigs and goats in preparation for germ cell transplantation.

The efficiency of germ cell transplantation, the procedure of transferring germ cells from a donor male into the testes of recipient males, can be greatly increased by reduction of endogenous germ cells in recipient animals. To develop effective methods for suppression of endogenous spermatogenesis in potential pig and goat recipients, we either administered busulfan to pregnant sows or irradia...