Transdifferentiation of mouse adult spermatogonial stem cells into functional myocardium

干细胞疗法是治疗心力衰竭的一种很有前途的方法。理想的心肌再生干细胞尚未确定。我们最近从成年小鼠睾丸中鉴定出一种多能精原干细胞。该细胞表现出像胚胎干细胞一样的多能性，并能在体外条件下分化为功能性心肌细胞。本项目的目标是从小鼠精原细胞培养中分离出心肌细胞，将这些细胞移植到心肌梗死的小鼠心脏中，并追踪供体心肌细胞的命运。这将通过使用可选择的转基因来产生心肌细胞的纯培养物和转基因报告来跟踪供体心肌细胞在体外和体内的命运来完成。我们假设具有典型钙瞬变的精原干细胞的转分化心肌细胞有助于心脏功能。在未来，我们可能能够从人类睾丸活检中分离出多能细胞，本研究可能有助于制定人类治疗策略。

Stem cell-based therapy is a promising approach for the treatment of heart failure. The ideal stem cell for myocardial regeneration has not yet to be defined. We recently identified a pluripotent spermatogonial stem cell from adult mouse testis. This cell shows pluripotency like embryonic stem cells and is able to differentiate into functional cardiomyocytes under in vitro conditions. It is the goal of the present project to isolate cardiac-committed cells from cultures of mouse spermatogonial cells, transplant those cells in mouse hearts with myocardial infarction and track the fate of donor cardiomyocytes. This will be done by making use of a selectable transgene to generate pure cultures of cardiomyocytes and transgenic reporters to track the fate of donor cardiomyocyte in vitro and in vivo. We hypothesise that transdifferentiated cardiomyocytes from spermatogonial stem cells with typical calcium transients contribute to cardiac performance. In the future we may be able to isolate pluripotent cells from human testicular biopsies, the present study may help to develop treatment strategies in human beings.