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Androgen receptor in Sertoli cells is not required for testosterone-induced suppression of spermatogenesis, but contributes to Sertoli cell organization in Utp14b jsd mice.

ABSTRACT: Testosterone acting through the androgen receptor (AR) maintains the arrest of spermatogonial differentiation in juvenile spermatogonial depletion (jsd mutation in the Utp14b gene) mutant adult male mice. It is not known which of the somatic cell types expressing AR mediates this inhibition. To determine whether Sertoli cells are responsible, we selectively eliminated AR in Sertoli cells in jsd mice containing a floxed-Ar gene and an anti-Müllerian hormone-Cre transgene. In these Sertoli AR-knockout (SCARKO)-jsd mice, spermatogonial differentiation did not recover. However, the normal organization of Sertoli cell nuclei was drastically disrupted in SCARKO-jsd mice compared with SCARKO or jsd mice. In addition, the extent of ectoplasmic specializations was reduced; tight junctions were not found; vinculin, an anchoring protein found in ectoplasmic specializations, became uniformly distributed in the cytoplasm; and the adult Sertoli cells showed excess heterochromatin subjacent to their nuclear envelope. Despite the abnormalities in Sertoli cells in SCARKO-jsd mice, global suppression of testosterone action and levels was still effective in restoring the differentiated germ cells, and this was accompanied by an improved arrangement of Sertoli cell nuclei. We conclude that Sertoli cells are not targets for the testosterone-mediated inhibition of spermatogonial differentiation in jsd mice, and that both AR in Sertoli cells and the presence of differentiated germ cells contribute to maintaining the organization of Sertoli cells within the seminiferous tubules.

SUBMITTER: Wang G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2797546 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Androgen receptor in Sertoli cells is not required for testosterone-induced suppression of spermatogenesis, but contributes to Sertoli cell organization in Utp14b jsd mice.

Wang Gensheng G Weng Connie C Y CC Shao Shan H SH Zhou Wei W de Gendt Karel K Braun Robert E RE Verhoeven Guido G Meistrich Marvin L ML

Journal of andrology 20090108 3

Testosterone acting through the androgen receptor (AR) maintains the arrest of spermatogonial differentiation in juvenile spermatogonial depletion (jsd mutation in the Utp14b gene) mutant adult male mice. It is not known which of the somatic cell types expressing AR mediates this inhibition. To determine whether Sertoli cells are responsible, we selectively eliminated AR in Sertoli cells in jsd mice containing a floxed-Ar gene and an anti-Müllerian hormone-Cre transgene. In these Sertoli AR-knoc ...[more]

PMID: 19136388

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Project description:Spermatogenesis is dependent primarily on testosterone action on the Sertoli cells. Although the identification of testosterone-regulated target genes in Sertoli cells has been approached using microarray analysis to compare gene expression in mice with androgen receptor (AR) elimination in the Sertoli cells (SCARKO) and wild type mice, the analysis has been complicated by alteration of germ cell composition of the testis when pubertal or adult mice were used and differences in Sertoli-cell gene expression from those in adult when prepubertal mice were used. Since the testicular cell components of adult jsd (Utp14bjsd ,juvenile spermatogonial depletion) mice and SCARKO-jsd mice are essentially identical, consisting of only type A spermatogonia and somatic cells, comparisons of gene expression profiles between jsd and SCARKO-jsd testes would identify AR regulated genes in adult Sertoli cells, with minimum effects of cell number changes. Microarray analysis identified 161 genes as downregulated and 202 genes as upregulated in the SCARKO-jsd mice compared to jsd mice. Some of the genes identified in the previous studies, including Rhox5, Drd4, and Fhod3, were also AR-regulated in the jsd testes but others, such as proteases and components of junctional complexes, were not androgen regulated in our model. Surprisingly, a set of germ-cell-specific genes preferentially expressed in differentiated spermatogonia and meiotic cells, including Meig1, Sycp3, and Ddx4, were all upregulated about 2-fold in SCARKO-jsd testes, demonstrating that, although there was no significant differentiation to spermatocytes in SCARKO-jsd mice, AR-regulated genes in Sertoli cells are involved in the regulation of spermatogonial differentiation. Further gene ontogeny analysis revealed possible sets of genes whose expression changes may be involved in the disruption of Sertoli cell organization in SCARKO-jsd testes. Comparisons of gene expression profiles between the testis of jsd mice (n=3) and SCARKO-jsd mice (n=3).

Dataset Information

Androgen receptor in Sertoli cells is not required for testosterone-induced suppression of spermatogenesis, but contributes to Sertoli cell organization in Utp14b jsd mice.

Publications

Androgen receptor in Sertoli cells is not required for testosterone-induced suppression of spermatogenesis, but contributes to Sertoli cell organization in Utp14b jsd mice.

Similar Datasets

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