The [35S]methionine-labeled proteins secreted from cultured Sertoli cells were analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and fluorography. Major polypeptides which were resolved by this procedure were designated by number and further analyzed. Many of these major polypeptides appeared as a series of spots which corresponded to charge isomers. Two of these polypeptides (5 and 6) were shown...

Although it has been suggested that in mammals the loss of female germ cells may induce the masculinization of the ovarian compartment, there has been as yet no conclusive demonstration. To directly address that question, the present study has been designed to determine the fate of follicular cells after oocyte loss. Using gamma-irradiation to selectively deplete oocytes in nongrowing follicles...

Di(n-butyl) phthalate (DBP) is commonly used in personal care products and as a plasticizer to soften consumer plastic products. Male rats exposed to DBP in utero have malformations of the male reproductive tract and testicular atrophy characterized by degeneration of seminiferous epithelium and decreased sperm production. In the fetal testis, in utero exposure to DBP reportedly resulted in red...

A current goal of molecular biology is to identify transcriptional networks that regulate cell differentiation. However, identifying functional gene regulatory elements has been challenging in the context of developing tissues where material is limited and cell types are mixed. To identify regulatory sites during sex determination, we subjected Sertoli cells from mouse fetal testes to DNaseI-se...

Environmental toxicants have been shown to induce the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease, including testis disease and male infertility. The current study was designed to determine the impact of an altered sperm epigenome on the subsequent development of an adult somatic cell (Sertoli cell) that influences the onset of a specific disease (male infertility). A gestat...

OBJECTIVE(S) Sertoli cells support in vivo germ cell production; but, its exact mechanism has not been well understood. The present study was designed to analyze the effect of Sertoli cells in differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to germ cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS A fusion construct composed of a Stra8 gene promoter and the coding region of enhanced green fluorescence prote...

The functional influence of cell proteoglycan (PG) undersulfation on estradiol synthesis by immature rat Sertoli cell cultures was investigated by using sodium chlorate, an inhibitor of the active sulfate donor for sulfotransferases. The addition of sodium chlorate to 20-day-old rat Sertoli cell cultures abolished [35S]-sulfate incorporation into neosynthesized PG and consequently reduced the r...

The mammalian blood-testis barrier (BTB) restructures throughout spermatogenesis, thereby allowing developing germ cells to enter the adluminal compartment of the seminiferous epithelium. Previous studies have shown pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin-1α to be important regulators of Sertoli cell barrier/BTB function in vitro and in vivo. In this st...

How Sertoli-specific expression is initiated is poorly understood. Here, we address this issue using the proximal promoter (Pp) from the Rhox5 homeobox gene. Its Sertoli cell-specific expression is achieved, in part, through a negative regulatory element that inhibits Pp transcription in non-Sertoli cell lines. Complementing this negative regulation is positive regulation conferred by four andr...

In this study we tested expression of tight junction proteins in human, mouse and rat and analyzed the localization of claudin-11 in testis of patients with normal and impaired spermatogenesis. Recent concepts generated in mice suggest that the stage-specifically expressed claudin-3 acts as a basal barrier, sealing the seminiferous epithelium during migration of spermatocytes. Corresponding mec...