Abstract

Human stem cell research which attracts not only scientists’ but the public’s attention is considered to be able to identify the mechanism of human development, and to change the medical practices. Stem cells have been used for regenerative medicine applications in many organ systems, including the genitourinary system. The potential applications for stem cell therapy have, however, been restricted by the ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cell research. Instead, scientists have explored other cell sources, including progenitor and stem cells derived from adult tissues. Another source of the stem cells are the male genitourinary system. Germ cells are defined by their innate potential to transmit genetic information to the next generation through fertilization. In mammalian species, gametes are issued from primordial germ cells during early embryo development. In males, these cells arrest in G0/G1 of mitosis as a prospermatogonia, but retain a proliferative precursor potential. Following birth, prospermatogonia migrate to the basement membrane of the seminiferous tubule and differentiate into spermatogonial stem cells. Like adult stem cells, spermatogonial stem cells can both self-renew and provide daughter cells, which differentiate into one or more terminal cell types. Isolation, in vitro cultivation of spermatogonial stem cells and differentiation into pluripotent stem cells will allow researchers to study their biological characteristics and their applications in therapeutic approaches such as infertility. In this review, stem cell sources of male genital system and the isolation of these cells were scrutinized.