REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Reproduction
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1515253
Advances in in vitro Oocyte Generation from Pluripotent Stem Cells and Ovarian Stem Cells
Provisionally accepted
- First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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Background: Reproductive cells play a crucial role in transmitting genetic and epigenetic information from one generation to the next. Oocytes are fundamental to reproduction but human oocytes are difficult to obtain for clinical and research purposes because of ethical restrictions. The artificial generation of oocytes is therefore important for understanding the mechanism of oocyte development and for meeting clinical needs. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that mouse pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived primordial germ cells (PGCs) and ovary-isolated ovarian stem cells (OSCs) have the ability to differentiate in vivo into cells capable of producing viable embryos and offspring. However, human oogenesis in vitro is still in the exploratory stage. Objective and rationale: This review discusses the latest advances in the development of oocytes in vivo and in vitro, involving PSC-derived PGCs and ovaryisolated OSCs. Specifically, we focus on induction methods and differentiation mechanisms and discuss the associated technical challenges and future directions.Search methods: Searches for published studies were conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases, using the following keywords: "pluripotent stem cells", "embryonic stem cells", "induced pluripotent stem cells", "primordial germ cell", "primordial germ cell-like cells", "ovarian stem cells", "female reproductive stem cells", and "oocytes".: Human oocytes have been successfully generated in vitro from PSCderived PGCs and ovary-isolated human OSCs, providing a new approach for human gametogenesis. Wider implications: In vitro oocyte production provides a new strategy to obtain gene-related offspring for patients with premature ovarian failure and infertility caused by cancer treatment. It also provides a new avenue to study the mechanism of human oocyte production and reproduction.
Keywords: Primordial germ cell-like cells, Ovarian stem cells, Pluripotent Stem Cells, Oogenesis, oocyte
Received: 22 Oct 2024; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang and Tian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Meixiang Zhang, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.