title: Contribution of Leydig and Sertoli cells to testosterone production in mouse fetal testes.
abstract: Testosterone is a final product of androgenic hormone biosynthesis, and Leydig cells are known to be the primary source of androgens. In the mammalian testis, two distinct populations of Leydig cells, the fetal and the adult Leydig cells, develop sequentially, and these two cell types differ both morphologically and functionally. It is well known that the adult Leydig cells maintain male reproductive function by producing testosterone. However, it has been controversial whether fetal Leydig cells can produce testosterone, and the synthetic pathway of testosterone in the fetal testis is not fully understood. In the present study, we generated transgenic mice in which enhanced green fluorescence protein was expressed under the control of a fetal Leydig cell-specific enhancer of the Ad4BP/SF-1 (Nr5a1) gene. The transgene construct was prepared by mutating the LIM homeodomain transcription factor (LHX9)-binding sequence in the promoter, which abolished promoter activity in the undifferentiated testicular cells. These transgenic mice were used to collect highly pure fetal Leydig cells. Gene expression and steroidogenic enzyme activities in the fetal Leydig cells as well as in the fetal Sertoli cells and adult Leydig cells were analyzed. Our results revealed that the fetal Leydig cells synthesize only androstenedione because they lack expression of Hsd17b3, and fetal Sertoli cells convert androstenedione to testosterone, whereas adult Leydig cells synthesize testosterone by themselves. The current study demonstrated that both Leydig and Sertoli cells are required for testosterone synthesis in the mouse fetal testis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shima
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyabayashi
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haraguchi
authors.forename: Tatsuhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Otake
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Sawako
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
authors.forename: Yurina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shishido
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tachibana
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsutsui
authors.forename: Ken-ichirou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morohashi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D005333:Fetus / Q000166:cytology; D015870:Gene Expression; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D007985:Leydig Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D054339:Steroidogenic Factor 1 / Q000235:genetics; D013737:Testis / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D013739:Testosterone / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D054339:Steroidogenic Factor 1; C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D013739:Testosterone