Comparative nuclear proteomic analysis between undifferentiated and differentiation-initiated mouse spermatogonial stem cell cultures

Mouse spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) continuously self-renew on the feeder layers in serum-free culture medium supplemented with glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor and fibroblast growth factor 2. To identify novel nuclear proteins involved in SSC maintenance, comparative proteomic profiling of nuclear proteins was performed between self-renewing and differentiation-initiated SSCs in culture. The self-renewing SSC cultures were established from C57BL/6 mouse testes. Nuclear fractions from self-renewing SSC cultures treated with ethanol as a vehicle control (spermatogonial stem cells) and differentiation-initiated SSC cultures treated with 0.3 μM retinoic acid for 24 h (spermatogonial progenitor cells) were isolated for proteomic analysis.