Stem cell technologies have been widely used in the study of spermatogenesis. However, deriving motile sperm from stem cells in vitro is still rarely achieved. We found that chicken primordial germ cells could directly differentiate into sperm by using retinoic acid in a non-testicular culture system. The induced sperms were characterised by RT-PCR, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry techniques. Results suggested that chicken primordial germ cells could produce motile sperm in vitro. Our work has provided a novel animal model of spermatogenesis in vitro, which might be used for male reproductive mechanism research.
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