In Vitro Spermatogenesis in Explanted Adult Mouse Testis Tissues
Fig 4
Sl/Sld mutant adult mouse experiments.
(A) Six-week-old Sl/Sld mouse testis tissues, cultured for 45 days without KitL nor CSF-1 (control) showed no spermatogenesis. (B) The testis tissue of the same mouse showed differentiated germ cell accumulation in the seminiferous tubules when cultured with KitL (100 ng/mL). (C, D) When cultured for 40 days with KitL (100 ng/mL) plus CSF-1 (20 ng/mL), meiotic cells in the seminiferous tubules were observed. The rectanglar area in C is enlarged in D. (E, F) Culturing with KitL (500 ng/mL) for 38 days induced spermatogenesis up to round spermatids. The rectanglar area in E is shown in F, demonstrating several round spermatids with PAS-stained acrosomal caps or dots. Scale bars, 50 μm (A-C, E); 20 μm (D, F).