This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a related Letter to the Editor Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Regadera, J. Articles by Suárez-Quian, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Regadera, J. Articles by Suárez-Quian, C. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Testicular Disorders

Androgen Receptor Expression in Sertoli Cells as a Function of Seminiferous Tubule Maturation in the Human Cryptorchid Testis¹

Department of Morphology, University Autonoma of Madrid School of Medicine (J.R., F.M.-G., M.N.), 28029 Madrid, Spain; Department of Pathology, Hospital of Guadalajara, University of Alcalá (P.G.-P.), Alcalá de Henares, Spain; Department of Urology, Hospital of Guadalajara (A.S.), Guadalajara, Spain; Department of Pathology, La Paz Hospital (M.N.), 28029 Madrid, Spain; and Department of Cell Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center (C.S.-Q.), Washington, D.C. 20007

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Carlos A. Suárez-Quian, Ph.D., Department of Cell Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3900 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, D.C. 20007. E-mail: suarezc{at}gunet.georgetown.edu

Androgen receptor (AR) immunohistochemistry was performed in an archival collection of adult human cryptorchid testes to determine whether AR cellular distribution and intensity of immunostaining were functions of the severity of cellular dysgenesis. The seminiferous tubule histology of cryptorchid testes collected from adults is marked by three specific patterns. 1) Seminiferous tubules are characterized as maintaining focal areas of germinal cell differentiation (albeit incomplete) that are interspersed with 2) tubules composed of Sertoli cells only, these latter cells being principally of the adult type, although dysgenetic and immature Sertoli cells may also be detected. 3) In contrast, there is a class of tubule that is characterized as being composed exclusively of Sertoli cells that are extremely dysgenetic in appearance. The majority of adult-type Sertoli cells found in the first types of tubules exhibited either robust or moderate AR staining intensity. Peritubular cells of these tubules also expressed a similar AR staining intensity. In contrast, in the more dysgenetic and immature type Sertoli cells found in the second type of tubules, the intensity of AR staining was significantly less, if not missing altogether. Finally, in the most dysgenetic tubules, Sertoli cell AR staining was never detected. To our knowledge, this is the first report in the literature that addresses the intensity of AR immunostaining in Sertoli cells of cryptorchid testes. The results presented herein are consistent with the interpretation that the intensity of AR staining in Sertoli cells diminishes as a function of the severity to which the cells are afflicted within a cryptorchid testis and that focal absence of AR expression in Sertoli cells correlates with a lack of local spermatogenesis in the tubules.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. M. Wikstrom, C. E. Hoei-Hansen, L. Dunkel, and E. Rajpert-De Meyts Immunoexpression of Androgen Receptor and Nine Markers of Maturation in the Testes of Adolescent Boys with Klinefelter Syndrome: Evidence for Degeneration of Germ Cells at the Onset of Meiosis J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., February 1, 2007; 92(2): 714 - 719. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. Plotton, P. Sanchez, P. Durand, and H. Lejeune Decrease of both stem cell factor and clusterin mRNA levels in testicular biopsies of azoospermic patients with constitutive or idiopathic but not acquired spermatogenic failure Hum. Reprod., September 1, 2006; 21(9): 2340 - 2345. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				F. Gaytan, M. L. Barreiro, J. E. Caminos, L. K. Chopin, A. C. Herington, C. Morales, L. Pinilla, R. Paniagua, M. Nistal, F. F. Casanueva, et al. Expression of Ghrelin and Its Functional Receptor, the Type 1a Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor, in Normal Human Testis and Testicular Tumors J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., January 1, 2004; 89(1): 400 - 409. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Shetty and C. C. Y. Weng Cryptorchidism Rescues Spermatogonial Differentiation in Juvenile Spermatogonial Depletion (Jsd) Mice Endocrinology, January 1, 2004; 145(1): 126 - 133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. S. Fisher, S. Macpherson, N. Marchetti, and R. M. Sharpe Human 'testicular dysgenesis syndrome': a possible model using in-utero exposure of the rat to dibutyl phthalate Hum. Reprod., July 1, 2003; 18(7): 1383 - 1394. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. R. Latendresse, A. R. Warbrittion, H. Jonassen, and D. M. Creasy Fixation of Testes and Eyes Using a Modified Davidson's Fluid: Comparison with Bouin's Fluid and Conventional Davidson's Fluid Toxicol Pathol, June 1, 2002; 30(4): 524 - 533. [Abstract] [PDF]

				N.E. Skakkebak, E. Rajpert-De Meyts, and K.M. Main Testicular dysgenesis syndrome: an increasingly common developmental disorder with environmental aspects: Opinion Hum. Reprod., May 1, 2001; 16(5): 972 - 978. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]