• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.33-44
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• 2015

The generation of artificial gametes is a real challenge for the scientific community today. In vitro development of human eggs and sperm will pave the way for the understanding of the complex process of human gametogenesis and will provide with human gametes for the study of infertility and the onset of some inherited disorders. However, the great promise of artificial gametes resides in their future application on reproductive treatments for all these people wishing to have genetically related children and for which gamete donation is now their unique option of parenthood. This is the case of infertile patients devoid of suitable gametes, same sex couples, singles and those fertile couples in a high risk of transmitting serious diseases to their progeny. In the search of the best method to obtain artificial gametes, many researchers have successfully obtained human germ cell-like cells from stem cells at different stages of differentiation. In the near future, this field will evolve to new methods providing not only viable but also functional and safe artificial germ cells. These artificial sperm and eggs should be able to recapitulate all the genetic and epigenetic processes needed for the correct gametogenesis, fertilization and embryogenesis leading to the birth of a healthy and fertile newborn.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제55권5호
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• pp.417-425
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• 2013

동결 닭 PGCs의 생식계열 키메라를 이용한 생체에의 복원을 실용화 하기 위해서는, 닭 PGCs의 동결보존기술의 향상에 의해 동결 및 융해 후의 많은 생존세포를 확보 하는 것과, 생식계열 키메라의 제작효율을 높이는 것이 반드시 필요하다. 닭 PGCs는 배양 5.5일령의 닭 원시생식선으로부터 채취하고, ACS 방법에 의해서 순수 닭 PGCs를 분리했다. 닭 PGCs의 동결보존실험결과 다음의 4종류의 동결방법을 각각 비교 검토했다. 1. 플라스틱 스트로에 의한 완만동결법 (SF), 동결보호물질은 2M 에틸렌 글리콜 (EG), 2. 스트로에 의한 급속동결법 (RF), 8M EG + 7% PVP, 3. 동결용 Cryotube에 의한 SF, 2M EG, 4. 튜브에 의한 SF, 10% DMSO. 동결 및 융해 후의 PGCs의 생존율은 각각 76.4%, 70.6%, 80.5%, 78.1%로 관찰되었다.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제12권8호
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• pp.1188-1191
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• 1999

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) of White Leghorn chicken embryos as a donor were transferred to Rhode Island Red chicken embryos as a recipient. At 48-50 h (stage 13-15) of incubation of fertilized eggs, donor PGCs, which were taken out from blood vessels of donor embryos, were injected into blood vessels of recipient embryos. Sex of the treated embryos was determined after the transfer of PGCs using remaining blood samples. In the present experiments, survival rate of the treated embryos was 33.3% for homo-sexual and 35.4% for hetero-sexual transfers of PGCs, respectively, when determined at 17 days of incubation. In this study, most of the treated embryos could not survive more than 18 days of incubation, though the reason for that was not clarified in the present work. The gonalds removed from embryos that died after 18 days of incubation and the organs from newly hatched chicks were examined for morphological and histological features. The gonads removed from the embryos with homo-sexual transfer of PGCs showed normal development in appearance. On the contrary, some (35.3%) of the embryos with hetero-sexual transfer of PGCs possessed abnormal gonads similar to ovotestis by histological observation. In cases where the gonads developed to be normal organs (64.7%) the sex of embryos was the same as recipient ones. The present results suggest that hetero-sexual transfer of the PGCs may bring about the possibility of development of the embryos bearing sexually different gametes, spermatogonia or oogonia.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.137-145
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• 2000

포유류 원시난포의 분화에는 뇌하수체에서 분비되는 gonadotropins 외에도 다양한 성장인자들 뿐 아니라 스테로이드호르몬 등이 관여하며, 난황낭에서 기원된 생식세포들과 중신에서부터 유입되는 기질세포들의 복잡한 상호작용에 의해 이루어진다. 특히 사람의 경우 태아기에 분화가 시작된 원시난포들은 성장을 개시한 후 배란이 되거나 혹은 폐쇄되어 난소에서 제거되는데, 일부 원시난포는 성장이 개시되기까지 50년 이상 원시난포의 상태로 유지된다. 그러나 원시난포의 분화 및 성장정지, 성장개시의 기전에 관하여는 현재까지 정확하게 밝혀져 있지 않다. 본 논문에서는 태아 및 신생아의 난소에서 gonadotrorin의 수용체, 성장인자와 성장인자 수용체, 그리고 스테로이드호르몬 수용체의 발현을 조사하였다. 이 결과들을 바탕으로 사람 원시난포의 형성, 성장정지를 조절하는 기전 그리고 원시난포의 성장개시에 영향을 미치는 요인을 알아보았다.

• 한국가금학회지
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.135-142
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• 2001

A novel sterategy has been established to determine the origin of the Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) in avian embryos directly and the developmental fate of the PGCs for the application to Poultry biotechnology. Cells were removed from 1) the centre of area pellucida, 2) the outer of area pellucida and 3) the area opaca of the stage X blastoderm (Eyal-Giladi & Kochav, 1976). When the cells were removed from the centre of area pellucida, the mean number of circulating PGCs in blood was significantly decreased in the embryo at stage 15 (Hamburger & Hamilton, 1951) as compared to intact embryos. When the cells were replenished with donor cells, no reduction in the PGCs number was observed. The removal of cells at the outer of area pellucida or at the area opaca had no effect on the number of PGCs. In case, another set of the manipulated embryos were cultured ex vivo to the hatching and reared to the sexual maturity, the absence of germ cells and degeneration of seminiferous tubules was observed in resulting chickens derived from the blastoderm in which the cells were removed from the centre of the area pellucida. It was concluded that the avian Primordial Germ cells are originated at the center of area pellucida. Developmental ability of the cells to differentiate into somatic cells and germ cells in chimeras were analyzed. Somatic chimerism was detected as black feather attributed from donor cells. Molecular identification by use of female - specific DNA was performed. It was confirmed that the donor cells could be differentiated into chimeric body and erythrocytes. Donor cells retained the ability to differentiate into germline in chimeric gonads. More than 70% of the generated chimeras transmitted donor derived gametes to their offspring indicating that the cells at the center of area pellucida had the high ability to differentiate into germ cells. A molecular technique to identify germline chimerism has been developed by use of gene scan analysis. Strain specific DNA fragments were amplified by the method. It would be greatly contributed for the detection of germline chimerism. Mixed- sex chimeras which contained both male and female cells were produced to investigate the developmental fate of male and female cells in ovary and testes. The sex combinations of donor and recipient of the resulting chimeras were following 4 pairs; (1) chimeras (ZZ/ZZ) produced by a male donor (ZZ) and a male recipient (ZZ), (2) chimeras (ZW/ZW) produced by a female donor (ZW) and a female recipient (ZW), (3) chimeras (ZZ/ZW) Produce by a male donor (ZZ) and a female recipient (ZW), (4) chimeras (ZW/ZZ) produced by a female donor (ZW) and a male recipient (ZZ). It was found that genetically male avian germ cells could differentiate into functional ova and that genetically female germ cells can differentiate into functional spermatozoa in the gonad of the mixed- sex chimeras. An ability for introduction of exogenous DNA into the PGCs from stage X blastoderms were analyzed. Two reporter genes, SV-$\beta$gal and RSV-GFP, were introduced into the PGCs. Expression of bacterial/gal was improved by complexing DNA with liposome detectedcc in 75% of embryos at 3 days embryos. At the embryos incubated for 1 day, expression of the GFP was observed all the embryos. At day 3 of incubation, GFP was detected in about 70% of the manipulated embryos. In case of GFP, expression of the transgene was detected in 30 %e of the manipulated embryos. These results suggested that the cells is one of the most promising vectors for transgenesis. The established strategy should be very powerfull for application to poultry biotechnology.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제16권6호
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• pp.910-927
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• 2003

Transgenesis is a very powerful tool not only to help understanding the basics of life science but also to improve the efficiency of animal production. Since the first transgenic mouse was born in 1980, rapid development and wide application of this technique have been made in laboratory animals as well as in domestic animals. Although pronuclear injection is the most widely used method and nuclear transfer using somatic cells broadens the choice of making transgenic domestic animals, the demand for precise manipulation of the genome leads to the utilization of gene targeting. To make this technique possible, a pluripotent embryonic cell line such as embryonic stem (ES) cell is required to carry genetic mutation to further generations. However, ES cell, well established in mice, is not available in domestic animals even though many attempt to establish the cell line. An alternate source of pluripotent cells is embryonic germ (EG) cells derived from primordial germ cells (PGCs). To make gene targeting feasible in this cell line, a better culture system would help to minimize the unnecessary loss of cells in vitro. In this review, general methods to produce transgenic domestic animals will be mentioned. Also, it will focus on germ cell engineering and methods to improve the establishment of pluripotent embryonic cell lines in domestic animals.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.145-149
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• 2000

Objective: The present study was conducted to evaluate the viability of germ cells from the adult and fetal ovarian tissues after vitrification followed by xenografting. Method: The human adult ovarian tissues were obtained from 33 years old patient, and the fetal ovarian tissues were obtained from 22 weeks and 25 weeks in gestation. Ovarian tissues were cryopreserved by vitrification with 5.5 M ethylene glycol (EG 5.5) and 1.0 M sucrose as cryoprotectants. Adult and fetal ovarian tissues were pre-equilibrated with EG 5.5 at room temperature for 10 and 5 minutes, respectively and plunged into liquid nitrogen immediately. Frozen-thawed tissues were xenografted into NOD-SCID mice to evaluate the viability and capacity for further growth of the primordial follicles. Grafts were recovered from the recipients 4 weeks after transplantation and histological analysis was accomplished. Result and Conclusion: Grafts recovered 4 weeks after transplantation contained less number of oocytes and primordial follicles compared to that of the fresh tissues. Survived follicles were mainly primordial and intermediary with larger diameter and more granulosa cells. It is confirmed that 1) the ovarian tissues were healthy and the germ cells were survived after vitrification, and 2) the survived fetal primordial follicles after vitrification resumed the growth in the xenografts.

• Applied Microscopy
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.1-12
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• 1985

In this study, the pathway and date of migrating Primordial germ cells (PGCs) were observed light microscopically and ultrastructural changes of them during migration were observed by electron microscopic examination. For these purpose, alkaline phosphatase reactions were used for identifying the PGCs and acid phosphatase reactions were used for observing their degenerating activities. Also, effects of actinomycin D on the migration of PGCs were examined. According to these results, at the 9th gestation day, PGCs were observed in the endodermal cells of yolk sac, at the 11th gestation day, they were seen in the hindgut and then entered into the dorsal mesentery by the 13th gestation day. At the 14th gestation day, they were located in the genital ridges. When PGCs were located in the hindgut and genital ridges, the positive reactions of alkaline phosphatase were dominated, but acid phosphatase reactions were limited in all stage except they were in dorsal mesentery. However, these reactions were lessened in case of actinomycin D treatment. By electron microscopic examination, PGCs had pseudopodia, tail process, trailing cytoplasm and nuage as the ultrastructural characteristics. In addition, these morphological features were damaged by actinomycin D treatment.

• 한국동물번식학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국동물번식학회 2001년도 발생공학 국제심포지움 및 학술대회 발표자료집
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• pp.47-47
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• 2001

One of the problems associated with in vitro culture of primordial germ cells (PGCs) is the large loss of cells during the initial period of culture. This study characterized the initial loss and determined the effectiveness of two classes of apoptosis inhibitors, protease inhibitors and antioxidants, on the ability of porcine PGCs to survive in culture. Results from electron microscopic analysis and in situ DNA fragmentation assay indicated that porcine PGCs rapidly undergo apoptosis when placed in culture. Additionally,？ 2-macroglobulin, a protease inhibitor and cytokine carrier, and N-acetylcysteine, an antioxidant, increased the survival of PGCs in vitro. While other protease inhibitors tested did not affect survival of PGCs, all antioxidants tested improved survival of PGCs (p〈0.05). Further results indicated that the beneficial effect of the antioxidants was critical only during the initial period of culture. Finally, it was determined that in short-term culture, in the absence of feeder layers, antioxidants could partially replace the effect(s) of growth factors and reduce apoptosis. Collectively, these results indicate that the addition of ？2-macroglobulin and antioxidants can increase the number of PGCs in vitro by suppressing apoptosis.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.219-226
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• 2007

본 연구는 생식선 키메라 생산효율을 높이기 위한 방법으로 busulfan 가온 주입법을 이용하여 효과적인 원시생식 세포의 이동능력을 검증하였다. 효율적인 생식선 키메라 닭 생산에서 중요한 요건 중 하나인 공여체 원시생식세포의 생존율을 측정한 실험에서는 시간이 지남에 따라 생존율에 변화를 보였으나, 평균 $70{\sim}80%$을 유지하고 있었으며, busulfan 처리 유무에 따른 공여체 원시생식세포 이동능력은 형광염색 후 주입한 실험에서 대조구가 4.8%인 반면 실험구는 23.5%을 나타냈다. 이식전 원시생식세포 배양 조건에 따라, 96시간과 118시간 배양 처리구에서 높은 이동능력을 보여 주었다. 원시생식세포의 형태학적, 생리학적 특징을 응용한 이식방법은 매우 효과적일 것이다. 그리고 본 연구에서는 생식반월의 발달단계 별 busulfan 처리 효과는 48시간이 가장 높은 53.4%였으며, 그러나 본 연구에서는 생식반월 유래 원시생식세포 이식은 48시간 이전, 혈관계가 발달하기 직전으로 가장 높은 효율을 보였다. 결론적으로 생식선 키메라 방법을 통한 형질전환 닭 생산 연구의 가장 큰 관건은 최대한 많은 수의 공여체 원시생식세포가 수용체의 저해작용 없이 안정적으로 수용체 gonad로 이동하여 분화하는 것으로, 본 연구 결과를 토대로 개선된 방법을 이용하면 높은 효율의 생식선 키메라 닭이 생산될 것으로 사료된다.