The following is the summary of “Human spermatogonial stem cells and their niche in male (in)fertility: novel concepts from single-cell RNA-sequencing” published in the January 2023 issue of Human reproduction by Persio, et al.
In the study of human male reproduction, the amount of data gained through single-cell Ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing, also referred to as scRNA-seq, has been consistently growing over the past few years. The transcriptional profiles that have been created from 100s of testicular cells have encompassed the human neonatal, prepubertal, pubertal, and adult stages of development, in addition to several different kinds of male infertility. In the second group, some of the disorders included are non-obazoospermia, cryptozoospermia, Klinefelter syndrome, and azoospermia factor deletions.
In this review that researchers have prepared, they provide an overview of the transcriptional changes that take place in a number of testicular subpopulations during postnatal development and instances of male infertility. These changes can be found in cases of infertility. They also investigate new possibilities on the existence of spermatogonial and somatic cell subtypes and their interaction with one another. In addition, they proposed pertinent marker genes that can assist in identifying spermatogonial and somatic cell subtypes.
In this abstract, investigators discuss the possible therapeutic implications of the scRNA-seq findings, the need for geographical information, and the necessity to validate the findings by studying additional levels of regulation, such as the epigenetic or protein level. In addition, they look at the necessity of gathering geographical information.