Multiomics Approach to Profiling Development of the Spermatogonial Stem Cell Niche Focused on Sertoli cell Maturation

Spermatogonial stem cells are the foundation of spermatogenesis and as such can serve as a tool for the treatment of infertility in prepubertal cancer survivors. Spermatogonial stem cells are unique as they develop from primordial germ cells (PGCs), which colonize the developing tubules as immature SSC precursors. It has been controversial, when SSCs are maturing to an adult-like stem cell and recent research has found that prepubertal SSCs are actually metabolically distinct from adult SSCs until puberty. Sertoli cells picture a major part of the SSC niche and undergo drastic changes with puberty and polarize to compartmentalize the seminiferous epithelium with formation of tight junctions to a tight basal part where SSCs reside and an apical part with more differentiated stages of spermatogenesis. In the study were mapping the progression of Sertoli cells maturation events to the metabolic changes SSCs undergo during prepubertal development.