Fetal programming of adult Leydig cell function by androgenic effects on stem/progenitor cells.

ABSTRACT: Fetal growth plays a role in programming of adult cardiometabolic disorders, which in men, are associated with lowered testosterone levels. Fetal growth and fetal androgen exposure can also predetermine testosterone levels in men, although how is unknown, because the adult Leydig cells (ALCs) that produce testosterone do not differentiate until puberty. To explain this conundrum, we hypothesized that stem cells for ALCs must be present in the fetal testis and might be susceptible to programming by fetal androgen exposure during masculinization. To address this hypothesis, we used ALC ablation/regeneration to identify that, in rats, ALCs derive from stem/progenitor cells that express chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II. These stem cells are abundant in the fetal test

SUBMITTER: Kilcoyne KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4020050 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature