Formation of testicular structure under skin after auto-transplantation of dispersed testicular cells in the chicken

Transplantation of immature testis tissue under the skin provides a simple approach for the establishment of donor-derived-only spermatogenesis in birds. There are reports on the reconstruction of testicular structures from dissociated testicular cells in mammalian species. The present study aimed to evaluate whether, in birds, the transplantation of testicular cells under the skin could form a new testis and lead to fertility. Testicular cells from newly hatched chicks were auto-transplanted under the neck skin as a cell suspension or cell pellet. Testicular tissue was auto-transplanted under the neck skin as a control study. At the age of 1 year, both suspension and pellets of testicular cells formed testicular tissue under the skin. Only 11.3% of seminiferous tubules contained primary or normal lumens with normal spermatogenesis in testicular cell transplants while 80% of seminiferous tubules contained normal lumens in the testis tissue transplant. This technique, if further developed, would provide a novel system to manipulate and study spermatogenesis in birds.