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男性化是必不可少的。在哺乳动物的睾丸中，已知有两种类型的间质细胞，胎儿间质细胞和成体间质细胞。然而，这两种细胞群之间的功能差异尚不清楚。此外，胎儿间质细胞的起源和功能重要性尚未明确。在这项研究中，我们发现两种间质细胞的基因表达谱有很大的不同，它们产生不同类型的雄激素。此外，我们通过破坏胎儿间质细胞中的一个基因，发现了胎儿间质细胞的新功能。

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.