Retinoids and spermatogenesis: lessons from mutant mice lacking the plasma retinol binding protein.
Using Rbp4-null mice as models, we have established for the first time the kinetics of the spermatogenetic alterations during vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Our data demonstrate that the VAD-induced testicular degeneration arises through the normal maturation of germ cells in a context of spermatogonia differentiation arrest. They indicate that retinoic acid (RA) appears dispensable for the transition of premeiotic to meiotic spermatocytes, meiosis, and spermiogenesis. They confirm that RA plays critical roles in controlling spermatogonia differentiation, spermatid adhesion to Sertoli cells, and spermiation, and suggest that the VAD-induced arrest of spermatogonia differentiation results from simultaneous blocks in RA-dependent events mediated by RA receptor gamma (RARgamma) in spermatogonia and by RARalpha in Sertoli cells. They also provide evidence that expression of major RA-metabolizing enzymes is increased in mouse Sertoli cells upon VAD and that vitamin A-deficient A spermatogonia differ from their RA-sufficient counterparts by the expression of the Stra8 gene.
Ghyselinck
Norbert B
NB
Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)/(INSERM)/Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg (ULP)/Collège de France. Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg, France.
Vernet
Nadège
N
Dennefeld
Christine
C
Giese
Norbert
N
Nau
Heinz
H
Chambon
Pierre
P
Viville
Stéphane
S
Mark
Manuel
M
D000818:Animals; D018390:Gene Targeting; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012176:Retinoids / Q000502:physiology*; D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics*; D054839:Retinol-Binding Proteins, Plasma; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000502:physiology
D012176:Retinoids; D012177:Retinol-Binding Proteins; D054839:Retinol-Binding Proteins, Plasma; D014801:Vitamin A