The Sertoli cell is a highly differentiated somatic cell in the seminiferous epithelium of the testis. This cell is of prime importance for both testicular development and spermatogenesis. Sertoli cells proliferate up to the start of puberty and, due to their nursing functions, the final Sertoli cell number is well correlated to the amount of germ cells produced by the adult testis. The physiol...

This study investigates the effects of spermatogenic germ cells on inhibin -subunit and B-subunit expression, and inhibin -subunit and inhibin B production by rat Sertoli cells in vitro. Sertoli cells isolated from 19-day-old rats were cultured for 48 h at 32 C, in the presence or absence of FSH (2·3–2350 mIU/ml), and in the presence of pachytene spermatocytes, round spermatids or cytoplasts of...

Sertoli cell tumor, also termed androblastoma or gonadal stromal tumor, is a rare testicular neoplasm. While it is usually benign, 25 cases of malignant Sertoli cell tumors have been reported.'" These neoplasms vary greatly in microscopic appearance and unfortunately they have aggressive metastatic behavior. Despite various treatments, the prognosis remains poor. We report on the fourth prepube...

Perinatal and juvenile oral treatment of rats with the insecticide, methoxychlor (MXC), reduced testicular size and other reproductive indices including the number of epididymal spermatozoa in those animals as adults 161. The objective was to determine if these males exposed during development had fewer Sertoli cells which might explain these testicular effects. Rat dams were gavaged with MXC a...

We have examined the adhesion of primary Sertoli cells to a seminiferous tubule basement membrane (STBM) preparation in vitro. The STBM isolation procedure (Watanabe, T.K., L.J. Hansen, N.K. Reddy, Y.S. Kanwar, and J.K. Reddy, 1984, Cancer Res., 44:5361-5368) yields segments of STBM that retain their histotypic form in both three-dimensional tubular geometry and ultrastructural appearance. The ...

OBJECTIVE Very little information is known about the toxic effects of cadmium on somatic cells in mammalian testis. The objective of this study is to explore the toxicity of cadmium on piglet Sertoli cells. METHODS Sertoli cells were isolated from piglet testes using a two-step enzyme digestion and followed by differential plating. Piglet Sertoli cells were identified by oil red O staining an...

Intratesticular injections of glycerol have been shown to result in a marked and prolonged reduction of spermatogenesis, accompanied by increased permeability of the blood-testis barrier. Because the permeability of the blood-testis barrier is regulated by Sertoli cell tight junctions, and tight junction organization is regulated by the cytoskeleton, we undertook to examine the effects of glyce...

12 Article Chronology: 13 Received 30 August 2006 14 Revised version received 15 26 December 2006 16 Accepted 23 January 2007 7 The coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR), a putative cell–cell adhesion molecule, has 8 attracted wide interest due to its importance in viral pathogenesis and in mediating 9 adenoviral gene delivery. However, the distribution pattern and physiological function of 2...

Sertoli-Leydig tumors tend to relapse early and due to their rarity, limited data are available regarding a role of chemotherapy in the management of Sertoli-Leydig cell tumors. We present a case of recurrent ovarian Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor whose salvage treatment was successful with paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy.

The production of activin by Sertoli cells isolated from 21-day-old rats was studied using the mesoderm-inducing activity of activin on Xenopus laevis animal cap explants, immunoprecipitation and Western blotting. Furthermore, the effects of recombinant bovine activin-A on rat Sertoli cell aromatase activity and FSH and androgen receptor gene expression were examined. Animal cap explants from X...