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BOR - Papers in Press, published online ahead of print October 14, 2002.
Biol Reprod 2002, 10.1095/biolreprod.102.004424
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BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 68, 230–235 (2003)
DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.102.004424
© 2003 by the Society for the Study of Reproduction, Inc.

Testis

Immunolocalization of Inhibin and Activin {alpha} and ßB Subunits and Expression of Corresponding Messenger RNAs in the Human Adult Testis

C. Marchettia,b, M. Hamdanea, V. Mitchella,b, K. Mayoc, L. Devismed, J.M. Rigote, J.C. Beauvillainb, E. Hermandb, and A. Defossez1,a,b

a Inserm U422, 59045 Lille cedex, France b Laboratoire de Biologie de la Reproduction-Histologie, CHRU-Faculté de Médecine, 59037 Lille cedex, France c Department of Biochemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 d Laboratoire d'Anatomo-pathologie, CHRU, 59037 Lille cedex, France e Service d'Andrologie, CHRU, 59037 Lille cedex, France

Inhibin B is a testicular peptide hormone that regulates FSH secretion in a negative feedback loop. Inhibin B is a dimer of an {alpha} and a ßB subunit. In adult testes, the cellular site of production is still controversial, and it was hypothesized that germ cells contribute to inhibin B production. To determine which cell types in the testes may produce inhibin B, the immunohistochemical localization of the two subunits of inhibin B were examined in adult testicular biopsies with normal spermatogenesis, spermatogenic arrest, or Sertoli cell only (SCO) tubules. Moreover, using in situ hybridization with mRNA probes, the mRNA expression patterns of inhibin {alpha} and inhibin/activin ßB subunits have been investigated. In all testes, Sertoli cells and Leydig cells showed positive immunostaining for inhibin {alpha} subunit and expressed inhibin {alpha} subunit mRNA. Using inhibin ßB subunit immunoserum on testes with normal spermatogenesis and with spermatogenic arrest, intense labeling was located in germ cells from pachytene spermatocytes to round spermatids but not in Sertoli cells. Inhibin ßB subunit mRNA expression was intense in germ cells from spermatogonia to round spermatids and in Sertoli cells in these testes. In testes with SCO, high inhibin ßB subunit mRNA labeling density was observed in both Sertoli cells and Leydig cells, whereas ßB subunit immunostaining was negative for Sertoli cells and faintly positive for Leydig cells. These results agree with the recent opinion that inhibin B in adult men is possibly a joint product of Sertoli cells and germ cells.

1 Correspondence: André Defossez, Laboratoire de Biologie de la Reproduction-Histologie, CHRU, av. Oscar Lambret, 59037 Lille cedex, France. FAX: 33 320 44 58 68; a-defossez{at}chru-lille.fr






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