Sperm morphology varies considerably across taxa, and postcopulatory sexual selection is thought to be one of the main forces responsible for this diversity. Several studies have investigated the effects of the variation in sperm design on sperm function, but the consequences of variation in sperm design on testis morphology have been overlooked. Testes size or architecture may determine the si...

Genetic studies have shown that Aubergine (Aub), one of the Piwi subfamily of Argonautes in Drosophila, is essential for germ cell formation and maintaining fertility. aub mutations lead to the accumulation of retrotransposons in ovaries and testes, and Stellate transcripts in testes. Aub in ovaries associates with a variety of Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) derived from repetitive intergenic e...

Mouse testicular experimental models are widely used in the study of andrology, reproductive toxicology and pharmacology. Under physiological conditions, a normal adult mouse is usually considered to have normal testes. However, whether normal adult mouse testes exhibit pathological changes has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to investigate the pathological changes of testic...

Objective- Perturbation of the normal process of testicular descent results in the condition of cryptorchidism. Spermatogenesis is generally impaired in cryptorchid testes because of high intratesticular temperature. It seems that the main mechanisms underlying the process of spermatozoa demise is apoptosis by overgeneration of free radicals. So, the aim of the present study was to investigate ...

Adult hamsters exposed to short photoperiods show a marked atrophy of their internal reproductive organs, including a reduction in size, though not number of Leydig cells. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is involved in the regulation of growth and proliferation of different cell types. The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of photoperiod on the protein and gene expres...

To examine the role of androgen receptor (AR) in Sertoli cells (SC), we used a SC-specific AR knockout (S-AR-/y) mouse to further evaluate the chronological changes of seminiferous tubules and the molecular mechanisms of SC androgen/AR signals on spermatogenesis. Testes morphology began changing as early as postnatal day (PD) 10.5 in wild-type (WT), but not in S-AR-/y mice. After puberty (PD 50...

Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have been suggested as a potential choice for treatment of male infertility. Yet, the effects of MSCs on regeneration of germinal epithelium of seminiferous tubules and recovery of spermatogenesis have remained controversial. In this research, we have evaluated and compared the fate of autologous bone marrow (BM)-MSCs during three different periods of t...

We have characterized the in vivo actions of human wild-type FSH receptor (FSHR) overexpressed in Sertoli cells of transgenic (Tg) mice (TgFSHRwt) compared with transgenic overexpression of the human activated mutant FSHR*D567G (TgFSHR*D567G). Testicular TgFSHRwt expression significantly elevated specific FSH binding (>2-fold, P < 0.01) relative to nontransgenic testes, similar to increased FSH...