Renal differentiation from adult spermatogonial stem cells. (November 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Heer, Rakesh; Hepburn, Anastasia C.; Williamson, Stuart C.; Kennedy, Amy; El-Sherif, Amira; Soomro, Naeem A.; Brown, Colin D.A.; Robson, Craig N.
• Is Part Of: Renal failure. Volume 35:Number 10(2013)
• Page Start: 1387
• Page End: 1391
• Publication Date: 2013-11
• Subjects: Chronic renal failure -- Periodicals; Acute renal failure -- Periodicals; Uremia -- Periodicals; 616.614005
• DOI: 10.3109/0886022X.2013.828266
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0886-022X

Abstract

<abstract> <title>Abstract</title> <p>There is considerable interest in the use of multi-potent stem cells in kidney tissue regeneration. We studied if spermatogonial stem cells have the ability to undergo kidney differentiation. Spermatogonial stem cell differentiation was induced using <italic>in vitro</italic> and <italic>ex vivo</italic> co-culture techniques. Conditioned media from human kidney fibroblasts induced the expression of epithelial and endothelial lineages in spermatogonial stem cells, consistent with nephrogenesis. Furthermore, we showed that these cells up-regulated renal tubular-specific markers alkaline phosphatase, mineralocorticoid receptor, renal epithelial sodium channel and sodium-glucose transporter-2 (<italic>p &lt; </italic>0.05). GFP-labeled spermatogonial stem cells were engrafted into metanephric kidney organ cultures harvested from E12.5 mouse embryos. After 5 days of organ culture, focal anti-GFP staining was detectable in all inoculated kidneys demonstrating integration of spermatogonial stem cells into the developing kidney (<italic>p &lt; </italic>0.01). Histological assessment showed early nephron-like architecture. In summary, we show that spermatogonial stem cells have the potential to generate renal tissue and lay the foundations for further investigations into a novel therapeutic approach for renal insufficiency.</p> </abstract>