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...

Sertoli cells actively metabolize glucose that is converted into lactate, which is used by developing germ cells for their energy metabolism. Androgens and oestrogens have general metabolic roles that reach far beyond reproductive processes. Hence, the main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sex hormones on metabolite secretion/consumption in primary cultures of rat Sertoli cell...

Members of the winged helix transcription factor family are known to regulate epithelial cell differentiation by regulating cell-specific gene expression. rWIN is a newly discovered member of the winged helix family shown to be present in the adult rat testis. In the testis the human homolog of rWIN, HFH-11, was localized to the germ cells (i.e. spermatocytes and spermatids) undergoing spermato...

Spontaneous germ cell death by apoptosis occurs during normal spermatogenesis in mammals and is thought to play a role in the physiological mechanism limiting the clonal expansion of such cell population in the male gonad. In the prepubertal rat testis, the most conspicuous dying cells are pachytene spermatocytes, which are also the primary target of the apoptosis experimentally induced by the ...

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 pro...

Background: Novel roles for the interaction of cardiotonic steroids to Na+/K+-ATPase have been established in recent years. The aim of the present study was to investigate the intracellular signaling events downstream the action of ouabain on Na+/K+-ATPase in Sertoli cell obtained from immature rats. Treatment of Sertoli cells with ouabain (1 μM) induced a rapid and transient increase in the ex...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous and persistent environmental contaminants. Some PAHs are carcinogens and may affect the male reproductive system. Therefore, we exposed cultured rat Sertoli cells to a variety of PAHs to determine possible direct toxic effects on the cells of the seminiferous epithelium. Sertoli cells were chosen because they support germ cell development a...

The synthesis of prostanoids by the Sertoli cell was assessed as part of a study on the role of vitamin E in maintaining spermatogenesis. Analyses of eicosanoid synthesis from endogenous substrate were carried out using freshly isolated Sertoli-cell-enriched preparations from both pre-pubertal and adult rats fed purified diets with and without vitamin E, as well as cells carried in primary cult...

Whereas spermatogonia stem cells continually divide to populate the testis with developing germ cells, the major supporter of this process, the Sertoli cell, ceases to proliferate shortly after birth in rodents and during puberty in higher primates including men. Because Sertoli cells are capable of supporting only a fixed number of germ cells, the timing of Sertoli cell exit from the cell cycl...