Understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of meiotic arrest in organotypic culture of prepubertal rat testicular tissues

We report the use of the Bulk RNA-sequencing technology on in vivo and in vitro cultured prepubertal testicular tissues. The goal of this study is to identify the origin of the maturation arrest observed in rat prepubertal testicular tissue cultured with the organ culture system with a transcriptomic approach. We compared the gene expression of 14.5 dpp rat testicular tissues cultured up to 6, 16, 22 and 28 days. The statistical filtration revealed 600 differentially expressed genes showing significant differential abundances in all three comparisons. This study uncovered for the first time several mechanisms that could explain the meiotic arrest observed in cultures of rat prepubertal testicular tissues. Testicular mRNA profiles of 14.5 day old rat and 6, 16, 22 and 28 days cultured tissues