Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P56851 (epididymal)
 11,273 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) interacts with its cognate receptor (R) on Sertoli cells within the testis and plays an important role in the maintenance of spermatogenesis. Male FSH-R knockout (FORKO) mice show fewer Sertoli cells and many that are structurally abnormal and as a consequence fewer germ cells. Lower levels of serum testosterone (T) and androgen binding protein (ABP) also occur, along with reduced fertility. To assess the effects of FSH-R depletion as an outcome of testicular abnormalities, sperm from the cauda epididymidis were counted and examined ultrastructurally. As reduced fertility may also reflect changes to the epididymis, the secondary responses of the epididymis to lower T and ABP levels were also examined by comparing differences in sizes of epididymal tubules in various regions of FORKO and wild type (WT) mice. Sperm motility was evaluated in FORKO mice and compared to that of WT mice by computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA). Quantitatively, the data revealed that epithelial areas of the caput and corpus epididymidis were significantly smaller in FORKO mice compared to WT mice. Cauda epididymal sperm counts in FORKO mice were also much lower than in WT mice. This resulted in changes to 9 out of 14 sperm motility parameters, related mostly to velocity measures, which were significantly lower in the FORKO mice. The greatest change was observed relative to the percent static sperm, which was elevated by 20% in FORKO mice compared to controls. EM analyses revealed major changes to the structure of the heads and tails of cauda luminal sperm in FORKO mice. Taken together these data suggest a key role for the FSH receptor in maintaining Sertoli cells to sustain normal sperm numbers and proper shapes of their heads and tails. In addition, the shrinkage in epididymal epithelial areas observed in FORKO mice likely reflect direct and/or indirect changes in the functions of these cells and their role in promoting sperm motility, which is noticeably altered in FORKO mice.
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PMID:Effects of FSH receptor deletion on epididymal tubules and sperm morphology, numbers, and motility. 1597 87

In the adult rat, the superior spermatic nerve (SSN) and inferior spermatic nerve (ISN) are involved in regulating testosterone secretion and spermatogenesis, in addition to endocrine control mechanisms. However, there are currently few data on how the testis nerve supply regulates testicular development and related mechanisms. The present study was thus designed to investigate the regulating effects of testis nerve supply to testicular maturation, spermatogenesis and the involved mechanisms from prepuberty to adulthood in rats. We transected the SSNs and ISNs of rats on postnatal day (PD) 30 and then analyzed changes in testicular morphology and cauda epididymal sperm content, cell proliferation and apoptosis and primary spermatocyte meiosis on PD60 and PD90. The results demonstrated that testicular denervation significantly reduced testis mass, cauda epididymal sperm counts and serum testosterone concentrations. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and cleaved caspase-3 immunohistochemistry staining proved that the denervation had no influence on the proliferation of spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes, but obviously promoted the apoptosis of round spermatids and Leydig cells. It is novel that denervation reduced the meiotic activation of zygotene and pachytene spermatocytes through the expression of synaptonemal complex protein 3 (SCP3)-a marker of meiosis. In addition, RT-PCR showed that testis denervation significantly decreased testis 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (3beta-HSD1) and luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) mRNA levels, but had no obvious influence on testis follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) mRNA expression. These results suggest that the testicular nerve supply plays an important role in supporting seminiferous tubule development and spermatogenesis from prepuberty to adulthood.
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PMID:Testicular denervation in prepuberty rat inhibits seminiferous tubule development and spermatogenesis. 2042 80

The present study investigated the effects and potential mechanism(s) of action of icariin on the reproductive functions of male rats. Adult rats were treated orally with icariin at doses of 0 (control), 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg body weight for 35 consecutive days. The results show that icariin had virtually no effect on the body weight or organ coefficients of the testes or epididymides. However, 100 mg/kg icariin significantly increased epididymal sperm counts. In addition, 50 and 100 mg/kg icariin significantly increased testosterone levels. Real-time PCR suggests icariin may be involved in testosterone production via mRNA expression regulation of genes such as peripheral type benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR). Furthermore, 100 mg/kg icariin treatment also affected follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) and claudin-11 mRNA expression in Sertoli cells. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured in the testes; 50 and 100 mg/kg icariin treatment improved antioxidative capacity, while 200 mg/kg icariin treatment upregulated oxidative stress. These results collectively suggest that icariin within a certain dose range is beneficial to male reproductive functions; meanwhile, higher doses of icariin may damage reproductive functions by increasing oxidative stress in the testes.
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PMID:Effects of icariin on reproductive functions in male rats. 2499 29