Cell biological analysis of GSCs/niche in medaka ovary

没有直接的证据表明生殖干细胞和它们的小生境存在于脊椎动物成体卵巢中。我们鉴定了青鳉卵巢中由sox 9 b表达细胞和早期卵子发生的生殖细胞组成的睾丸索样网络结构，称为“卵巢索”。在卵巢索中，存在生殖细胞聚集的区域（称为“生殖摇篮”）。使用cre/loxP系统的克隆分析揭示了在胚胎摇篮中存在提供功能性卵的生殖系干细胞（中村等人，Science，2010）。我们的研究结果提供了深入了解青鳉生殖干细胞生物学和研究脊椎动物干细胞生态位的模型系统。

There is no direct evidence that germline stem cells and their niche are present in the vertebrate adult ovary. We identified the testis cord-like network structure, termed 'ovarian cords', which is composed of sox9b-expressing cells and germ cells of early stage oogenesis in medaka ovary. In the ovarian cord, the regions in which germ cells are clustered are present (termed 'germinal cradle'). Clonal analysis using cre/loxP system revealed that germline stem cells supplying functional eggs exist in germinal cradle (Nakamura et al., Science, 2010). Our results provide insight into germline stem cell biology of medaka and provide a model system for studying vertebrate stem cell niches.