The alteration of RhoA geranylgeranylation and Ras farnesylation breaks the integrity of the blood-testis barrier and results in hypospermatogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) severely affects male infertility, however, the deep mechanisms of this disease are rarely interpreted. In this study, we find that undifferentiated spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) still exist in the basal compartment of the seminiferous tubules and the blood-testis barrier (BTB) formed by the interaction of neighbor Sertoli cells (SCs) is incomplete in NOA patients with spermatogenic maturation arrest. The adhesions between SCs and germ cells (GCs) are also broken in NOA patients. Meanwhile, the expression level of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (Ggpps), a key enzyme in mevalonate metabolic pathway, is lower in NOA patients than that in obstructive azoospermia (OA) patients. After Ggpps deletion specifically in SCs, the mice are infertile and the ph

SUBMITTER: Zhu R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6554403 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature