GCNA (germ cell nuclear antigen) is widely used as a marker for germ cells of fetal and neonatal mouse ovaries, but it is not detected in oocytes which are arrested at the diplotene stage of meiosis I [38], [39].
CXCR4, which is a chemokine receptor, is expressed in migratory and post-migratory germ cells in vivo in mice [27], and is also a marker for germ cells derived from human ES cells [28], thus suggesting that CXCR4 is a candidate marker gene for detecting ES cells-derived germ cell in monkeys.
Next, gonadal ridges of E12.5 embryos were used to evaluate the correlation between NANOS3 dosage and PGC number using anti-MVH antibody, a marker for germ cells.
We used expression of an Oct4-driven transgene as a marker for germ cells, and Kit as a marker for differentiating SGs.
For this reason, some members of this breakout group suggested that Leydig cell nodules/hyperplasia in the rat might serve as a surrogate marker for germ cell tumors in men.
However, immunostaining analyses with an antibody against mouse vasa homologue (MVH), a marker for germ cells, revealed no MVH-positive cells in Nanos2-null male gonads with NANOS2-ZM at E18.5 (Fig. 3I), although many germ cells were present in the embryonic testes of Nanos2−/− mice (Fig. 3G,H).
