Fig. 7: Reconstruction of the SV and spermatogenesis by the Sertoli cells of Sox17-cKO mice. | Nature Communications

Fig. 7: Reconstruction of the SV and spermatogenesis by the Sertoli cells of Sox17-cKO mice.

From: SOX17-positive rete testis epithelium is required for Sertoli valve formation and normal spermiogenesis in the male mouse

Fig. 7

a A schematic of Sertoli cell ablation/transplantation experiment. Sertoli and germ cells of Sox17-cKO mice, their littermate wild-type control (control), or trypan blue (sham control) were injected into the testis of AMH-Treck mice, respectively. In this experiment, AMH-Treck males were pretreated with diphtheria toxin (DT) to ablate the endogenous Sertoli cells on 4 days prior to the transplantation. b–e Sertoli cells of Sox17-cKO mice reconstituted ace-TUB+ valve-like structure at the presumptive SV region adjacent to the host RT (SOX9+/CDH1+). Sertoli cells of control mice also constructed the SV (b), while sham control testis did not show any valve-like structure at the SV (c, e). The number of Sertoli cells in the putative SV region was similar between the Sox17-cKO group and the control group (d). Sham control n = 3. Control n = 3. Sox17-cKO n = 4. In (b), (c), and (e), the testes shown in the left panel and the right panel are contralateral testis from the same animal. In e, the top, middle, and bottom panels show data obtained from different mice as a biological replicate. f Restored spermatogenesis in AMH-Treck mouse testes transplanted with Sertoli cells derived from Sox17-cKO mice. Spermatozoa were observed in the ST epithelium of the testis transplanted with Sertoli cells derived from the control and Sox17-cKO mice. No spermatogenic activity was observed in the ST of sham controls, where most of the ST underwent calcification. g Immunohistochemistry of VASA, SCP3, and HSP70 in the testis section of AMH-Treck mice. Note the presence of elongated spermatids strongly marked by HSP70. Lower panels in (b) show the magnified image of the region indicated by arrowheads in the upper panels. The lower panels in f show the testis section at high magnification, respectively. The upper and lower panels in g show images of serials sections. Data are mean ± s.e.m. Broken line, outlines of the ST. RT rete tests, SV Sertoli valve, ST seminiferous tubule. TP, post-transplantation. “n” represents the number of biological replicates. Scale bars, 100 μm.

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