AGING AND MALE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT STRUCTURE/FUNCTION

男性生殖道与性行为有关的变化是 重要性有几个原因，包括：（1）人口 美国正在迅速老龄化; 2）老年人的许多疾病， 例如良性前列腺增生和前列腺癌，取决于 睾丸激素; 3）其他内分泌疾病，如 骨质疏松症，很可能成为老年人的主要问题， 4）药物和外源性影响中与阿加森有关的变化， 5、夫妻相守 孩子男性生殖道提供了许多优势， 年龄相关现象的研究，包括：1）实验 试验/附睾操作不太可能导致死亡或 发病率; 2）对男性生殖道的调节了解很多; 男性生殖系统是一个很好的模型， 广义的衰老，因为它是可能的研究，在一次， 年龄对具有不同增殖能力的细胞的影响 并且处于不同的分化阶段。 因此，有细胞 通过有丝分裂快速增殖（精原细胞、前列腺 上皮细胞），进行减数分裂（精母细胞），永久 增殖后（支持细胞），缓慢翻转（间质细胞）， 分化（精子细胞），终末分化（精子）， 对荷尔蒙和睾丸的变化非常敏感 功能（附睾和前列腺上皮细胞）。 在老鼠体内， 随着年龄的增长，人类发生了惊人的变化，包括减少 睾丸激素分泌减少，生殖细胞生成减少， 睾丸和附睾精子数量减少， 生精上皮，前列腺敏感性增加 腺激素。 本项目的主要目标 应用是阐明关键的结构和功能 与睾丸间质老化相关的变化（Zirkin和Wright博士， 项目1），前列腺（布朗博士，项目2），塞尔托利/细菌（博士。 Zirkin和Wright，项目1），精子（Robaire博士，项目 3)和附睾（Robaire博士，项目3）细胞，并确定 这种变化发生的机制。

Age-related changes in the male reproductive tract are of importance for a number of reasons, including: 1) the population of the U.S. is aging rapidly; 2) a number of diseases of aged men, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatic cancer, depend upon testicular hormones; 3) other endocrine diseases, such as osteoporosis, are likely to become major problems in geriatric males; 4) aga-related changes in drug and xenobiotic effects have been shown; and 5) couples are waiting until later in life to have children. The male reproductive tract offers many advantages for studies of age-related phenomena, including: 1) experimental manipulation of the tests/epididymides is unlikely to cause death or morbidity; 2) much is known about the regulation of the male tract; and 3) the male reproductive system is an excellent model for generalized aging because it is possible to study, at once, the influence of age on cells that have different proliferative capacities and are at different stages of differentiation. Thus, there are cells that are proliferating rapidly by mitosis (spermatogonia, prostatic epithelia cells), undergoing meiosis (spermatocytes), permanently postreplicative (Sertoli cells), slowly turning over (Leydig cells), differentiating (spermatids), terminally differentiated (spermatozoa), and exquisitely sensitive to hormones and to changes in testicular function (epididymal and prostatic epithelia cells). In the rat, as in the human, striking changes occur with aging, including reduced secretion of testosterone, diminished germ cell production, reduced numbers of testicular and epididymal sperm, atrophy of the seminiferous epithelium, and increased sensitivity of the prostate gland to androgens. The major objectives of this program project application are to elucidate the critical structural and functional changes associated with aging of Leydig (Drs. Zirkin and Wright, Project 1), prostatic (Dr. Brown, Project 2), Sertoli/germ (Drs. Zirkin and Wright, Project 1), spermatozoal (Dr. Robaire, Project 3) and epididymal (Dr. Robaire, Project 3) cells, and to determine the mechanism by which such changes occur.