Androgen Action on Spermatogenesis

Direct action through the sertoli cells is essential for androgen stimulation of spermatogenesis.

Androgens act to stimulate spermatogenesis through androgen receptors (ARs) on the Sertoli cells and peritubular myoid cells. Specific ablation of the AR in either cell type will cause a severe disruption of spermatogenesis. To determine whether androgens can stimulate spermatogenesis through direct action on the peritubular myoid cells alone or whether action on the Sertoli cells is essential,...

Symposium on androgen action in prostate cancer.

Donald Tindall, Frances McFarland Horne, Andrew Hruszkewycz, Suresh Mohla, Marc Shuman, Zhou Wang, and Philip Kantoff 6 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota; Palladian Partners, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland; National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland; University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois; and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,...

Constitutively active follicle-stimulating hormone receptor enables androgen-independent spermatogenesis.

Spermatogenesis is regulated by the 2 pituitary gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). This process is considered impossible without the absolute requirement of LH-stimulated testicular testosterone (T) production. The role of FSH remains unclear because men and mice with inactivating FSH receptor (FSHR) mutations are fertile. We revisited the role of FS...

Molecular Determinants of Androgen Action

Effect of FSH on testicular morphology and spermatogenesis in gonadotrophin-deficient hypogonadal mice lacking androgen receptors

FSH and androgen act to stimulate and maintain spermatogenesis. FSH acts directly on the Sertoli cells to stimulate germ cell number and acts indirectly to increase androgen production by the Leydig cells. In order to differentiate between the direct effects of FSH on spermatogenesis and those mediated indirectly through androgen action, we have crossed hypogonadal (hpg) mice, which lack gonado...