Bruot B C, Clemens J W
Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Ohio 44242.
J Androl. 1992 Jan-Feb;13(1):87-92.
Serum testosterone concentrations are reduced in men with rheumatoid arthritis and in rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis, a common model for rheumatoid arthritis. To understand the mechanism responsible for this reduction, testosterone production by testicular cells and Percoll-purified Leydig cells from nonarthritic and arthritic rats was studied. Leydig cells in crude interstitial cell preparations from arthritic rats secreted significantly less testosterone in response to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulation than cells from nonarthritic animals. In contrast, no differences in hCG and dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate-stimulated testosterone production by Percoll-enriched Leydig cells from arthritic and nonarthritic animals were observed. To determine whether a secretory product from testicular macrophages was important to this reduction, macrophages from arthritic and nonarthritic animals were cultured. The conditioned media from these cultures were added to cultures of interstitial cells from nonarthritic animals. Nonarthritic rat testicular macrophage-conditioned medium had no significant effect on testosterone production. In contrast, conditioned medium from arthritic rat testicular macrophages significantly reduced testosterone production. These results suggest that testicular macrophages secrete a factor that may be important in the regulation of testosterone production in the adjuvant-induced arthritic rat.
类风湿关节炎患者以及佐剂诱导性关节炎大鼠（类风湿关节炎的常见模型）的血清睾酮浓度会降低。为了了解导致这种降低的机制，对非关节炎大鼠和关节炎大鼠睾丸细胞以及经Percoll纯化的睾丸间质细胞生成睾酮的情况进行了研究。与非关节炎动物的细胞相比，来自关节炎大鼠的粗制间质细胞制剂中的睾丸间质细胞在人绒毛膜促性腺激素（hCG）刺激下分泌的睾酮显著减少。相反，未观察到来自关节炎和非关节炎动物的经Percoll富集的睾丸间质细胞在hCG和二丁酰环磷酸腺苷刺激下生成睾酮的差异。为了确定睾丸巨噬细胞的分泌产物是否对这种降低起重要作用，培养了来自关节炎和非关节炎动物的巨噬细胞。将这些培养物的条件培养基添加到非关节炎动物的间质细胞培养物中。非关节炎大鼠睾丸巨噬细胞条件培养基对睾酮生成没有显著影响。相反，来自关节炎大鼠睾丸巨噬细胞的条件培养基显著降低了睾酮生成。这些结果表明，睾丸巨噬细胞分泌一种可能在佐剂诱导性关节炎大鼠睾酮生成调节中起重要作用的因子。
