2. Academic Validation
  3. Glycylglycine plays critical roles in the proliferation of spermatogonial stem cells

Glycylglycine plays critical roles in the proliferation of spermatogonial stem cells

  • Mol Med Rep. 2019 Oct;20(4):3802-3810. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2019.10609.
Bo Xu 1,  Xiang Wei 1,  Minjian Chen 1,  Kaipeng Xie 2,  Yuqing Zhang 1,  Zhenyao Huang 1,  Tianyu Dong 1,  Weiyue Hu 1,  Kun Zhou 1,  Xiumei Han 1,  Xin Wu 1,  Yankai Xia 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Institute of Toxicology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, P.R. China.
  • 2 Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Institute, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210004, P.R. China.
PMID: 31485625 DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2019.10609
Abstract

Glial cell line‑derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is critical for the proliferation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, an unbiased metabolomic analysis was performed to examine the metabolic modifications in SSCs following GDNF deprivation, and 11 metabolites were observed to decrease while three increased. Of the 11 decreased metabolites identified, glycylglycine was observed to significantly rescue the proliferation of the impaired SSCs, while no such effect was observed by adding sorbitol. However, the expression of self‑renewal genes, including B‑cell CLL/lymphoma 6 member B, ETS variant 5, GDNF family receptor α1 and early growth response protein 4 remained unaltered following glycylglycine treatment. This finding suggests that although glycylglycine serves an important role in the proliferation of SSCs, it is not required for the self‑renewal of SSCs.

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