Fig. 6: Aberrant spermiogenesis in Sox17-cKO testes.
a Gross morphology of the testis from 4-week-old Sox17-cKO and their littermate controls. b The decrease of testicular weight in Sox17-cKO mice from 4 weeks of age onward. 1wk: Control n = 3, Sox17-cKO n = 4, 2wk: Control n = 5, Sox17-cKO n = 4, 4wk: Control n = 12, Sox17-cKO n = 11, 8wk: Control n = 4, Sox17-cKO n = 5. c RT-qPCR analysis of the whole testis from 4-week-old Sox17-cKO and control group animals. Expression levels of spermatid-specific marker genes were significantly decreased in Sox17-cKO mice, among the marker genes for germ cells at each developmental stage, as shown at the top of the figure. Control n = 6, Sox17-cKO n = 6. d, e SCP3 and HSP70 immunostaining (d) and H&E staining (e) of testicular sections from 4-week-old Sox17-cKO mice and controls. Few elongated spermatids were marked by HSP70 during the first wave of spermatogenesis in the Sox17-cKO testes (d). Immature spermatids often detached from the ST lumen to form multinucleated syncytia (arrowheads in (d) and (e)). f A significant increase in TUNEL+ apoptotic cells in the STs of Sox17-cKO testes was seen from 4 weeks of age onward (f′). 1wk: Control n = 3, Sox17-cKO n = 3, 2wk: Control n = 5, Sox17-cKO n = 4, 4wk: Control n = 7, Sox17-cKO n = 10, 8wk: Control n = 4, Sox17-cKO n = 3. Insets show magnified images of the region surrounded by broken rectangles (d, e). Aundiff, undifferentiated spermatogonia; Adiff, differentiating spermatogonia; Spc, spermatocyte; Spt, spermatids. Broken line, tubular wall. Data are mean ± s.e.m. (b, f) or as box-and-whisker plots displaying median, interquartile range (boxes), and minima and maxima (whiskers) (c). Comparisons were made using a two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test (b, c) or two-way repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni’s two-sided multiple comparisons (f′). “n” represents the number of biological replicates. *P < 0.05. Scale bars, 1 mm (a), 50 μm (d–f).
