Fig. 8: Mitochondrial transfer network between Leydig cells and testicular macrophages declines with age.
From: An extracellular vesicle-mediated mitochondrial transfer network critical for testosterone synthesis
a, Experimental design overview. b, Serum LH levels of mice at the ages of 3, 12 and 18 months (n = 5 mice per group). c, Serum testosterone levels of mice at the ages of 3, 12 and 18 months (n = 5 mice per group). d, Experimental design overview. CD206hi tMacs were sorted from wild-type (WT) mice of different ages and then co-cultured with LCs from three-month-old Cyp17a1Cre; R26mitoD2 (mitoD2) mice. e, Representative images of tMacs containing LC-derived mitochondria (mitoD2+; n = 9 biological replicates per group). Dashed lines indicate boundary of tMacs. Arrowheads indicate LC-derived mitoD2+ mitochondria within tMacs. Scale bars, 15 μm (main images; top) and 10 μm (magnified views of the boxed regions; middle and bottom). f, Levels of mitoD2+ signal in tMacs (n = 9 biological replicates per group, 20 fields of view were captured and 100 cells were analysed for each biological replicate). g, Experimental design overview. Following sorting from WT mice of different ages, LCs were co-cultured with MHCIIhi tMacs from three-month-old Cx3cr1CreER; R26mitoD2 (mitoD2) mice treated with TAM. h, Representative images of LCs containing tMac-derived mitochondria (mitoD2+; n = 9 biological replicates per group). Dashed lines indicate boundary of LCs. Arrowheads indicate tMac-derived mitoD2+ mitochondria within LCs. Scale bars, 10 μm (main images; top) and 5 μm (magnified views of the boxed regions; middle and bottom). i, Levels of mitoD2+ signals in LCs (n = 9 biological replicates per group, 20 fields of view were captured and at least 100 cells were analysed for each biological replicate). b,c,f,i, Data are the mean ± s.e.m. Statistical significance was determined using a one-way ANOVA. Schematic in a,d,g created in BioRender. Xia, K. (2026) https://biorender.com/jbc6wok. Source numerical data are provided.
