Abstract
Generally, successful testis transplantation has been considered to require immune suppression in the recipient to avoid rejection of the transplanted tissue. In the present study, we demonstrate in medaka that allogeneic adult testicular tissue will engraft in adult recipients immediately after partial castration without the use of immunosuppressive drugs. The allografted testes are retained in the recipient’s body for at least three months and are able to produce viable sperm that yield offspring after natural mating. Some recipients showed a high frequency (over 60%) of offspring derived from spermatozoa produced by the transplanted testicular tissue. Histological analyses showed that allografted testicular tissues included both germ cells and somatic cells that had established within an immunocompetent recipient testis. The relative simplicity of this testis transplantation approach will benefit investigations of the basic processes of reproductive immunology and will improve the technique of gonadal tissue transplantation.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Shinji Kanda: shinji{at}aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Kataaki Okubo: okubo{at}marine.fs.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Abbreviations
- ARS
- Alizarin red S,
- DAB
- 3,3-diaminobenzidine,
- DAPI
- 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole,
- ed
- efferent duct,
- DIG
- digoxigenin,
- IC
- interstitial cells,
- IHC
- immunohistochemistry,
- ISH
- in situ hybridization,
- MS-222
- Ethyl 3-aminobenzoate methanesulfonic acid salt,
- NGS
- normal goat serum,
- PBS
- phosphate-buffered saline,
- PFA
- paraformaldehyde,
- sc
- spermatocyte,
- sg
- spermatogonia,
- sp
- spermatozoa,
- SSC
- spermatogonial stem cells,
- st
- spermatid