Immunohistochemical analysis of connexin43 expression in infertile human testes.
Immunohistochemical analysis of connexin43 expression in infertile human testes.
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对不育人类睾丸中连接性表达的免疫组织化学分析。
DOI：
10.1267/ahc.07001
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发表时间：
2007-07-03
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Koji, Takehiko
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Matsuo, Yuzo;Nomata, Koichiro;Eguchi, Jiro;Aoki, Daiyu;Hayashi, Tomayoshi;Hishikawa, Yoshitaka;Kanetake, Hiroshi;Shibata, Yoshisada;Koji, Takehiko
Connexin43 (Cx43) 在哺乳动物睾丸中大量表达，参与调节生殖细胞和支持细胞之间的细胞间相互作用，这对于精子发生的正常过程至关重要。在本研究中，我们研究了不育人类睾丸中 Cx43 表达与精子发生程度之间的关系。对 29 名无精症 (n=23) 和严重少精症 (n=6) 患者的睾丸活检进行了 Cx43 免疫组织化学分析，这些患者均知情同意本实验。采用Johnsen评分评价睾丸生精程度。在间质中，Cx43 的免疫染色位于相邻 Leydig 细胞之间质膜的某些焦点部分。在具有正常精子发生的生精小管中，Cx43 在支持细胞和生殖细胞之间表达。然而，成熟停滞时Cx43的表达降低，主要位于生精小管的基底室。最后，精子发生的组织学评分与Cx43强度之间存在显着的正相关性（p=0.0294）。这些数据表明，Cx43 表达的改变可能与生精障碍有关，并且支持细胞和生殖细胞之间通过 Cx43 进行的通讯可能对生精成熟很重要。
Connexin43 (Cx43) is abundantly expressed in mammalian testes and implicated in the regulation of cell-to-cell interaction between germ cells and Sertoli cells, which is essential to the normal process of spermatogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the relation between Cx43 expression and the degree of spermatogenesis in infertile human testes. Immunohistochemical analysis of Cx43 was performed on testicular biopsies from 29 patients with azoospermia (n=23) and severe oligospermia (n=6), who gave informed consent to this experiment. The degree of testicular spermatogenesis was evaluated by Johnsen score. In the interstitium, immunostaining for Cx43 was localized to some focal parts of plasma membrane between neighboring Leydig cells. In seminiferous tubules with normal spermatogenesis, Cx43 expression was found between Sertoli cells and germ cells. However, Cx43 expression in maturation arrest was decreased and located mainly in the basal compartment of seminiferous tubules. Finally, there was a significant positive correlation between histological score of spermatogenesis and intensity of Cx43 (p=0.0294). These data suggest that the alteration of Cx43 expression may be involved in spermatogenic impairment, and that the communication between Sertoli cells and germ cells through Cx43 may be important for maturation of spermatogenesis.