The neonatal marmoset monkey ovary is very primitive exhibiting many oogonia.
Oogonia are characterized by diploidy and mitotic proliferation. Human and mouse oogonia express several factors such as OCT4, which are characteristic of pluripotent cells. In human, almost all oogonia enter meiosis between weeks 9 and 22 of prenatal development or undergo mitotic arrest and subsequent elimination from the ovary. As a consequence, neonatal human ovaries generally lack oogonia. The same was found in neonatal ovaries of the rhesus monkey, a representative of the old world monkeys (Catarrhini). By contrast, proliferating oogonia were found in adult prosimians (now called Strepsirrhini), which is a group of 'lower' primates. The common marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus) belongs to the new world monkeys (Platyrrhini) and is increasingly used in reproductive biology and stem cell research. However, ovarian development in the marmoset monkey has not been widely investigated. Herein, we show that the neonatal marmoset ovary has an extremely immature histological appearance compared with the human ovary. It contains numerous oogonia expressing the pluripotency factors OCT4A, SALL4, and LIN28A (LIN28). The pluripotency factor-positive germ cells also express the proliferation marker MKI67 (Ki-67), which has previously been shown in the human ovary to be restricted to premeiotic germ cells. Together, the data demonstrate the primitiveness of the neonatal marmoset ovary compared with human. This study may introduce the marmoset monkey as a non-human primate model to experimentally study the aspects of primate primitive gonad development, follicle assembly, and germ cell biology in vivo.
Stem Cell Biology UnitGerman Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, GermanyCentre of Reproductive Medicine and AndrologyUniversity of Münster, Domagkstraße 11, 48149 Münster, Germany.
B
B
Fereydouni
Stem Cell Biology UnitGerman Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, GermanyCentre of Reproductive Medicine and AndrologyUniversity of Münster, Domagkstraße 11, 48149 Münster, Germany.
C
C
Drummer
Stem Cell Biology UnitGerman Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, GermanyCentre of Reproductive Medicine and AndrologyUniversity of Münster, Domagkstraße 11, 48149 Münster, Germany.
N
N
Aeckerle
Stem Cell Biology UnitGerman Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, GermanyCentre of Reproductive Medicine and AndrologyUniversity of Münster, Domagkstraße 11, 48149 Münster, Germany.
S
S
Schlatt
Stem Cell Biology UnitGerman Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, GermanyCentre of Reproductive Medicine and AndrologyUniversity of Münster, Domagkstraße 11, 48149 Münster, Germany rbehr@dpz.eu.
R
R
Behr
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism*; D002144:Callithrix / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D050810:Octamer Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009867:Oogonia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D010053:Ovary / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D015415:Biomarkers; D050810:Octamer Transcription Factors; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins