Project description:Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterize genes whose expressions in the initial segment (IS)-caput epididymis were affected by busulfan intraperitoneal injection. Methods: 8-week-old wild-type mice were treated with single intraperitoneal injection of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or busulfan (40mg/kg body weight) disolved in DMSO and mice were left for 4 weeks until tissue sampling at 12 weeks old. IS-caput epididymal mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina NovaSeq6000. Results: RNA-seq data identified differentially expressed transcripts. Conclusions: Our results show that the expression of many genes was affected by busulfan injection.
Project description:Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterize gene expression in the Ovch2-ablated mouse initial segment (IS)-caput epididymis. Methods: Ovch2-/- mice were used when they were 14-week-old. IS-caput epididymal mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina NovaSeq6000. Results: RNA-seq data identified differentially expressed transcripts. Conclusions: Our results show that the expression of many genes was not critically affected by Ovch2 ablation.
Project description:Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterize genes whose expressions in the initial segment (IS)-caput epididymis were affected by unilateral orchidectomy (UOD), bilateral orchidectomy (BOD), and Nell2 gene ablation. Methods: The unilateral or bilateral orchidectomy of WT mice was performed from 8 weeks old and continued for 4 weeks until tissue sampling at 12 weeks old. Contralateral epididymis was used as a control for UOD. Sham operation was also done as a control for BOD. Nell2-/- mice and their control WT mice were used wthen they were 14-week-old. IS-caput epididymal mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina NovaSeq6000. Results: RNA-seq data identified differentially expressed transcripts. Conclusions: Our results show that the expression of many genes was affected by UOD, BOD, and Nell2 ablation.
Project description:The initial segment of the epididymis is vital for male fertility, therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms that regulate this important region. Deprival of testicular luminal fluid factors/lumicrine factors from epididymis, a subset of cells within the initial segment undergo apoptosis. In this study, microarray analyses was used to examine early changes in the downstream signal transduction pathways following the loss of lumicrine factors, and we discovered the following cascade of events leading to loss of protection and eventual apoptosis. First, mRNA expression of several key components of ERK pathway decreased sharply after 6 hours of loss protection from testicular lumicrine factors. After 12 hours, the levels of mRNA expression of STAT and NF-кB pathways components increased, mRNA expression of genes encoding cell cycle inhibitors increased. After 18 hours of loss protection from testicular lumicrine factors, apoptosis was observed in the initial segment. In conclusion, testicular lumicrine factors protect the cells of the initial segment by activating ERK pathway, repressing STAT and NF-кB pathways, and preventing a cascade of reactions leading to apoptosis. Unilateral efferent duct ligation (EDL) surgeries were performed to block lumicrine testicular fluid factors from reaching one side of epididymis. For the control, a sham operation was performed on the contra-lateral side within the same animal. After 6, 12 and 18 hours of EDL, the most proximal region of the initial segment containing zone 1a and 1b of initial segment was dissected out. In this microarray study, sham control and each time point of EDL (sham, 6h EDL, 12h EDL, 18h EDL) all have 4 replicates, a total of 16 arrays were hybridized.
Project description:The initial segment of the epididymis is vital for male fertility, therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms that regulate this important region. Deprival of testicular luminal fluid factors/lumicrine factors from epididymis, a subset of cells within the initial segment undergo apoptosis. In this study, microarray analyses was used to examine early changes in the downstream signal transduction pathways following the loss of lumicrine factors, and we discovered the following cascade of events leading to loss of protection and eventual apoptosis. First, mRNA expression of several key components of ERK pathway decreased sharply after 6 hours of loss protection from testicular lumicrine factors. After 12 hours, the levels of mRNA expression of STAT and NF-кB pathways components increased, mRNA expression of genes encoding cell cycle inhibitors increased. After 18 hours of loss protection from testicular lumicrine factors, apoptosis was observed in the initial segment. In conclusion, testicular lumicrine factors protect the cells of the initial segment by activating ERK pathway, repressing STAT and NF-кB pathways, and preventing a cascade of reactions leading to apoptosis.
Project description:The role of estrogen and testosterone in the regulation of gene expression in the proximal reproductive tract is not completely understood. To address this question, mice were treated with testosterone or estradiol and RNA from the efferent ducts and caput epididymis was processed and hybridized to Affymetrix MOE 430 2.0 microarrays. Analysis of array output identified probe sets in each tissue with altered levels in hormone treated versus control animals. Hormone treatment efficacy was confirmed by determination of serum hormone levels pre- and post-treatment and observed changes in transcript levels of previously reported hormone-responsive genes. Tissue-specific hormone sensitivity was observed with 2867 and 3197 probe sets changing significantly in the efferent ducts after estrogen and testosterone treatment, respectively. In the caput epididymis, 117 and 268 probe sets changed after estrogen and testosterone treatment, respectively, demonstrating a greater response to hormone in the efferent ducts than the caput epididymis. Transcripts sharing similar profiles in the intact and hormone-treated animals compared with castrated controls were also identified. Ontological analysis of probe sets revealed a significant number of hormone-regulated transcripts encode proteins associated with lipid metabolism, transcription and steroid metabolism in both tissues. Real-time RT-PCR was employed to confirm array data and investigate other potential hormone-responsive regulators of proximal reproductive tract function. The results of this work reveal previously unknown responses to estrogen in the caput epididymis and to testosterone in the efferent ducts as well as tissue specific hormone sensitivity in the proximal reproductive tract. Adult animals were castrated or sham-castrated, allowed to recover for 14 days, and then treated with 0.015 mg estradiol (castrated), 0.015 mg testosterone propionate (castrated), or vehicle (castrated and sham-castrated as biological controls) in duplicate. Efferent duct and caput epididymis was collected from each sample and analyzed. Duplicates are included in the provided data and numbered 1 or 2 for each treatment regimen.
Project description:The role of estrogen and testosterone in the regulation of gene expression in the proximal reproductive tract is not completely understood. To address this question, mice were treated with testosterone or estradiol and RNA from the efferent ducts and caput epididymis was processed and hybridized to Affymetrix MOE 430 2.0 microarrays. Analysis of array output identified probe sets in each tissue with altered levels in hormone treated versus control animals. Hormone treatment efficacy was confirmed by determination of serum hormone levels pre- and post-treatment and observed changes in transcript levels of previously reported hormone-responsive genes. Tissue-specific hormone sensitivity was observed with 2867 and 3197 probe sets changing significantly in the efferent ducts after estrogen and testosterone treatment, respectively. In the caput epididymis, 117 and 268 probe sets changed after estrogen and testosterone treatment, respectively, demonstrating a greater response to hormone in the efferent ducts than the caput epididymis. Transcripts sharing similar profiles in the intact and hormone-treated animals compared with castrated controls were also identified. Ontological analysis of probe sets revealed a significant number of hormone-regulated transcripts encode proteins associated with lipid metabolism, transcription and steroid metabolism in both tissues. Real-time RT-PCR was employed to confirm array data and investigate other potential hormone-responsive regulators of proximal reproductive tract function. The results of this work reveal previously unknown responses to estrogen in the caput epididymis and to testosterone in the efferent ducts as well as tissue specific hormone sensitivity in the proximal reproductive tract.
Project description:Purpose: To compare the transcriptome profiles (RNA-seq) of cultured human epididymis cells and tissue from the caput, corpus and cauda regions of the human epididymis. Methods: Human epididymis tissue was obtained with Institutional Review Board approval from 3 patients (UC05, UC06, UC09, range: 22 - 36 years) undergoing inguinal radical orchiectomy for a clinical diagnosis of testicular cancer. None of the epididymides had extension of the testicular cancer. The three anatomical regions: caput, corpus and cauda, were separated and segments of each snap frozen. Adult human epididymis epithelial (HEE) cultures were also established from tissue. RNA was extracted from both tissue and cultured HEE cells and RNA-seq libraries prepared (TruSeq RNA Sample Preparation Kit v2, Low-Throughput protocol, Illumina). Libraries were sequenced on Illumina HiSeq2500 machines. Data were analyzed using TopHat and Cufflinks. Results: Libraries generated ~19-39 million reads per library from the cells (95-99% mapping to the human genome) and ~14-39 million reads from the tissue samples (84-99% mapped). Raw reads were aligned to the genome with Tophat and gene expression values were processed using Cufflinks as Fragments Per Kilobase per Million mapped fragments (FPKM). FPKM values were subject to principle component analysis, which revealed that though caput, corpus and cauda cell samples respectively from UC05, UC06 and UC09 clustered together. RNA-seq data from the 3 biological replicas (UC05, UC06 and UC09) of caput, corpus and cauda were pooled for further analysis. Cufflinks was used to determine differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between caput, corpus and cauda cells, combined from the 3 donors. The gene expression profiles of corpus and cauda are remarkably similar and both differ from the caput to a similar degree. We identified ~40 genes differentially expressed between corpus and cauda and more than 1600 DEGs between caput and cauda. The DEGs for each comparison (caput and corpus/cauda) were analysed using a gene ontology process enrichment analysis (DAVID, Huang et al., NAR 2009;37:1-13, Huang et al., 2009 Nat Prot 4:44-57). Conclusions: Here we describe an in depth analysis of the gene expression repertoire of primary cultures of epithelial cells and intact tissues from each region of the adult human epididymis. These data will be valuable to decipher pathways of normal epididymis function and aspects of epididymis disease that cause male infertility. RNA-seq was performed on libraries generated from caput, corpus and cauda-derived cultured cells (passage 2 or 3) from 3 donors and on caput, corpus and cauda tissue from 2 of the same donors. Donor age range: 22 - 36 years.