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Review
. 2018 Jun 28:6:65.
doi: 10.3389/fcell.2018.00065. eCollection 2018.

Apoptosis Is a Demanding Selective Tool During the Development of Fetal Male Germ Cells

Ignacio Bejarano  1 , Ana B Rodríguez  1 , José A Pariente  1
Affiliations
Review

Apoptosis Is a Demanding Selective Tool During the Development of Fetal Male Germ Cells

Ignacio Bejarano et al. Front Cell Dev Biol. .

Abstract

Apoptosis is widely known to play a major role on diseases related to male infertility. Diseases of the male genital tract as defective spermatogenesis, decreased sperm motility, sperm DNA fragmentation, testicular torsion, varicocele and immunological infertility are strongly related to apoptotic cell death. Apoptosis must not be considered only as a fail on germ cell physiology or a secondary effect of certain pathologies and exogenous hazardous agents. Apoptosis orchestrates correct function and development of the male germ cell from the early embryonic stages of gonadal differentiation to the fertilization. In this review we have tried to address a reading frame of the main knowledge about apoptosis in male germ cell development. Focussing on mechanisms concerning cellular apoptosis, which are independent of exogenous stimuli, we aimed to highlight that apoptosis is a selective instrument that guarantees the delivery of genetic message to offspring.

Keywords: apoptosis; differentiation; gonocytes; primordial germ cells; spermatogonia.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(Upper) A schematic illustration of development of germ cells. The numbers inside the circles are tagging the mentioned stages during the development. (Lower) The table summarizes the main apoptosis-related factors, their functions and the stages represented in the upper illustration (number in brackets).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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