Testicular STAC3 regulates Leydig cell steroidogenesis through potentiating mitochondrial membrane potential and StAR processing.

ABSTRACT: SH3 and cysteine-rich protein 3 (STAC3), a small adapter protein originally identified as a core component of excitation-contraction coupling machinery, regulates the voltage-induced Ca²⁺ release in skeletal muscle. However, the possibility of additional, as yet unknown, non-muscle effects of STAC3 cannot be ruled out. Herein, we provide the evidence for the expression and functional involvement of STAC3 in spermatogenesis. STAC3 expression was localized in the testicular interstitium of rodent and human testes. By using the cytotoxic drug ethylene dimethane sulfonate (EDS), STAC3 expression was observed to be decreased sharply in rat testis after selective withdrawal of Leydig cells (LCs), and reappeared immediately after LCs repopulation, indicating that testicular expression

SUBMITTER: Bi X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8016781 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature