title: Retinoic acid induces myoblasts transdifferentiation into premeiotic Stra8-positive cells.
abstract: Spermatogonia and sperm-like cells can be derived in vitro via the addition of RA (retinoic acid) to pluripotent ES and EG cells. At present, however, these cells have not been derived from unipotent cells. Here, we have generated premeiotic Stra8-positive cells from C2C12 myoblasts following treatment with 10 μM all-trans-RA for 8 days. The differentiated C2C12 cells exhibited spherical morphology similar to spermatogonia, and they expressed gene markers of premeiosis, meiosis and postmeiosis. In addition, some of the transdifferentiated Stra8-positive cells had a tail-like phenotype. Flow cytometry results indicated that up to 20% of RA-induced C2C12 cells were Stra8-positive. Mvh (mouse vasa homologue) protein, a germ cell-specific ATP-dependent RNA helicase and Prm1 (protamine 1) were detected in transdifferentiated cells. The DNA content in induced C2C12 cells showed that Stra8-positive cells were diploid, suggesting that the myoblast transdifferentiation was in the premeiotic stage of spermatogenesis. The derivation of Stra8-positive cells from C2C12 myoblasts has important implications for studying unipotent cell differentiation. Furthermore, C2C12 myoblasts may provide a useful in vitro cell model to study signal transduction and transdifferentiation during RA treatments.
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Shaanxi Center for Stem Cell Engineering and Technology, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, Peoples Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: De
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Huayan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D054338:Cell Transdifferentiation; D015870:Gene Expression; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013093:Spermatogonia / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D011506:Proteins; C102019:Stra8 protein, mouse; D014212:Tretinoin