Identification of novel biological functions of fetal Leydig cells

间质细胞合成雄激素，因此它们对整个身体的雄性化至关重要。哺乳动物睾丸中存在两种类型的间质细胞，即胎儿间质细胞和成体间质细胞。然而，这两个细胞群之间的功能差异尚未阐明。此外，胎儿Leydig细胞的起源和功能的重要性没有被定义在所有。在这项研究中，我们证实，基因表达谱之间的两种类型的Leydig细胞有很大的不同，它们产生不同类型的雄激素。此外，我们已经确定了胎儿Leydig细胞的新功能，通过破坏一个基因，特别是在胎儿Leydig细胞。

Leydig cells synthesize androgens, and thus they are essential for masculinization of the whole body. It is known that there are two type of Leydig cells, fetal leydig cells and adult Leydig cells, in the mammalian testis. However, functional differences between these two cell populations were not clarified yet. Moreover, the origin and functional importance of fetal Leydig cells were not defined at all.In this study, we idenified that gene expression profiles are quite different between two types of Leydig cells, and they produce different types of androgens. In addition, we have identified novel functions of fetal Leydig cells by disrupting a gene specifically in the fetal Leydig cells.