en Tissue Engineering and Cell Biology Tissue Engineering and Cell Biology مقاله کامل Full Length/Original Article <strong>Background: </strong><em>In vitro</em> spermatogenesis has a long research history beginning in the early 20^th century. This organ culture method was therefore abandoned, and alternative cell culture methods were chosen by many researchers. Here, whether <em>Tnp1</em>, <em>Tekt1</em>, and <em>Plzf,</em> which play a crucial role in spermatogenesis, can be expressed during testis organ culture was assessed. <strong>Methods:</strong> Testes of 10 mouse pups were first removed, and the testis tissue was then separated into smaller pieces of seminiferous tubules. The size of the pieces was arbitrary; approximately 1 mg in weight or 1 mm³ in size when compacted. Afterwards, the testis tissue fragments (1&ndash;3) were transferred to the hexahedrons, incubated in a culture incubator and cultured for 12 weeks. Histological assessment and molecular evaluation were carried out at the end of the study. <strong>Results: </strong>The results showed that the expression of <em>Tekt1</em> as a mitotic gene in mouse pups decreased significantly (<em>p</em> &le; 0.05) in comparison to adult mouse testis. Meanwhile, the expression of <em>Tnp1</em> as a meiotic gene increased significantly (<em>p</em> &le; 0.05) as compared to neonate mouse testis at the beginning of the culture. The expression of <em>Plzf</em> showed no significant difference during the 12 weeks of culture (<em>p</em> &ge; 0.05). Based on histological study, different types of spermatocytes and post-meiotic stages of germ cells could not be detected. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> This kind of three-dimensional culture can induce expression of post-meiotic gene, <em>Tnp1</em>, but only at the molecular level and not beyond meiosis. Mice, Testis, Culture 258 263 http://ibj.pasteur.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-713&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Ahmad Alrahel Yes Anatomical Sciences Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Mansoureh Movahedin No Anatomical Sciences Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Zohre Mazaheri No Anatomical Sciences Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Fardin Amidi No Anatomical Sciences Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran