Abstract: Objective To investigate whether the human embryonic stem cell line chHES-20 can express the germ cell differentiation associated genes. Methods RT-PCR was used to detect the expression pattern of germ cell differentiation associated genes in chHES-20 cell line. The present sdudy used the normal human testis and human embryonic fibroblast cell line to serve as the positive and negative controls, respectively. Results The pluripotency and self-renewal specific genes OCT4,NANOG and SOX2 were able to be expressed in chHES-20 cell line.The DAZL(deleted in azoospermia-like) and FRAGILIS of pre-meiotic germ cell-specific genes were expressed in chHES-20 cell line. chHES-20 was not able to express the meiosis specific gene SCP3(synapto complex protein 3 gene) and germ cell pos-meiotic differentiation gene VASA. Conclusion chHES-20 embryonic stem cell line possesses the potential to differentiate germ cell.

Key words: Embryonic stem cell, Germ cell, Differentiation, Gene, RT-PCR, Human