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Expression of the pluripotency marker UTF1 is restricted to a subpopulation of early A spermatogonia in rat testis

¹ Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, <br/>The Netherlands² Center for Reproductive Medicine, Academic Medical Center, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, <br/>The Netherlands³ Division of Developmental Biology, Research Center for Genomic Medicine, <br/>Saitama Medical University, 1397-1 Yamane, Hidaka, Saitama 350-1241, Japan and <br/>⁴ Department of Developmental Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, <br/>University of Groningen, 9751 NN Haren, The Netherlands

Correspondence should be addressed to A M M van Pelt at Center for Reproductive Medicine, Academic Medical Center, Room F2-131-2, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Email: a.m.vanpelt{at}amc.uva.nl

The population of early A spermatogonia includes stem cells that possess spermatogonial stem cell properties. Recent reports suggest that these cells have the ability to regain pluripotent properties. Here, we show that expression of the pluripotency marker undifferentiated embryonic cell transcription factor 1 (UTF1) is restricted to distinct germ cells within the testis. In embryonic and neonatal testes, all gonocytes were found to strongly express UTF1. During further testicular development, expression of UTF1 was restricted to a subset of A spermatogonia and with the increase in age the number of cells expressing UTF1 decreased even more. Ultimately, in the adult rat testis, only a small subset of the A spermatogonia expressed UTF1. Remarkably, even in testes of vitamin A-deficient rats, in which the early A spermatogonia (A_s, A_pr, and A_al) are the only type of spermatogonia, only a subset of the spermatogonia expressed UTF1. In the adult rat testis, expression of UTF1 is restricted to a subpopulation of the ZBTB16 (PLZF)-positive early A spermatogonia. Furthermore, the observed distribution pattern of UTF1-expressing cells over the different stages of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium suggests that the expression of UTF1 is restricted to those A_s, A_pr, and short chains of A_al spermatogonia that are in the undifferentiated state and therefore maintain the ability to differentiate into A1 spermatogonia in the next round of the epithelial cycle or possibly even in other directions when they are taken out of their testicular niche.

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