The Viability of Human Testis-Derived Cells on Human Serum Albumin-Based Scaffold as An Artificial Male Germ Cell Niche

Abstract

Azoospermia is one of the challenging disorders affecting couples who are afflicted with infertility. Human testisderived cells (hTCs) are suitable candidates for the initiation of in-vitro spermatogenesis for these types of patients. The current study aimed to assess the proliferation of hTCs through the cell culture on the three-dimensional (3D) porous scaffolds. Cells harvested from the testicular sperm extraction (TESE) samples of the azoospermic patients were cultured on the 3D porous scaffolds containing human serum albumin (HSA)/tri calcium phosphate nanoparticles (TCP NPs) for two weeks. The proliferation/viability of the cells was assessed using the MTT assay, along with H&E histological staining method. The MTT assay showed that hTCs could stay alive on this scaffold with 50 and 66.66% viability after 7 and 14 days, respectively. Such viability was not significantly different when compared with cells grown on monolayer flask culture (P > 0.05). Therefore, 3D HSA/TCP NPs scaffolds could be used for the reconstitu- tion of the artificial human somatic testicular niche for future applications in regenerative medicine for male infertility.

Keywords

• azoospermia
• human serum albumin
• scaffold
• spermatogenesis
• testis