Endocrine Abstracts

Spermatogonial stem cells open novel strategies for derivation of pluripotent cell lineages and fertility preservation in boys and men exposed to gonadotoxic therapies. The testicular stem cells are descendants of the primordial germ cells. They are the only germline cells remaining mitotically active in adulthood. Their highly specialized task is the preservation of DNA integrity in the germline. In contrast to all other stem cells they do not serve any beneficial functions f...

Male and female germline development during sexual differentiation differs significantly. While in the testicular microenvironment primordial germ cells differentiate into a stem cell, the spermatogonium, the female pathway leads to the establishment of a limited pool of oocytes arrested in prophase of meiosis. Recently, exciting research has improved the understanding of pathways involved in germ cell differentiation and maintenance of pluripotency. In vitro and in ...

The testis provides stem cell niches which are populated by spermatogonial stem cells. The seminiferous epithelium is the exclusive site where germline cells are proliferating and entering meiosis in the adult organism. The existence of stem cells offers clinically relevant options for preservation and restoration of male fertility. New approaches based on male germ cell transplantation and testicular tissue grafting can be applied to generate sperm. Germ cell transplantation ...

Immature testicular tissue was successfully xenografted in several species but did not lead to spermatogenesis with tissue obtained from the non-human primate Callithrix jacchus. Previous data indicate that the microenvironment provided by the mouse host might cause this failure. We conducted an in vivo study performing autologous ectopic transplantation of testicular fragments in newborn anaesthetised marmoset monkeys and compared transplanted animals to sham op...

Aim: To assess the relation between questionnaires of androgenic function (AMS and IIEF-EF scores) and sex hormones (DHT, estradiol and total and free testosterone) in men attending an outpatient clinic for endocrine and reproductive disorders.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all data entered in the electronic database of the Münster Center of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology (CeRA) Androbase from patients visited between January 2015 and Oct...

Objective: Aromatase, the key enzyme involved in estrogen synthesis, is expressed in a variety of cells, including peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs), and tissues. The systematic study of aromatase expression and activity in different tissues in the human and other primates, however, is difficult and still missing. Although is not really known, aromatase expression in PBLs could be used as parameter of aromatase expression/activity making PBLs a potential alternative for other...