Stem Cells from Some Infertile Men Form Germ Cells When Transplanted into Mice, Study Finds

May 2, 2014

(Phys.org) – Stem cells made from the skin of adult, infertile men yield primordial germ cells—cells that normally become sperm—when transplanted into the reproductive system of mice, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Montana State University. The infertile men in the study each had a type of genetic mutation that prevented them from making mature sperm—a condition called azoospermia. The research suggests that the men with azoospermia may have had germ cells at some point in their early lives, but lost them as they matured to adulthood.