Teerds K J, de Rooij D G, de Jong F H, Rommerts F F
Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Veterinary School, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Androl. 1991 May-Jun;12(3):171-9.
In 78% of the Wistar rats (substrain U) studied, spontaneous Leydig cell tumors developed between the ages of 12 and 30 months. The first signs of tumor development, in the form of nodules of Leydig cells, were already apparent in 1-month-old U-rats. These nodules of Leydig cells were found in all animals studied. In no other strain of rats has this type of abnormality been observed at such an early age. The first Leydig cell tumors were noticed between the ages of 12 and 14 months. The tumor tissue appeared to have developed from a rapid, focal outgrowth of a nodule. The tumor Leydig cells were found to be sensitive to the cytotoxic action of the specific Leydig cell toxicant ethane dimethane sulphonate (EDS), although not all tumor cells were killed. Inhibin-like immunoreactivity could be detected in both normal and tumor Leydig cells, and plasma levels varied considerably within the different groups of rats. Moreover, no significant changes in plasma levels of inhibin-like immunoreactivity were found during the aging period when Leydig cell tumors were formed or after EDS administration when nearly all Leydig cells were killed. Therefore, the possible contribution of Leydig cells and tumor cells to the total content of inhibin-like immunoreactivity in the testis and plasma may be of less importance than expected. Some significant fluctuations in plasma testosterone concentrations were found during aging; however, there appeared to be no correlation between plasma testosterone levels and the appearance of large Leydig cell tumors. This indicates that testosterone production by tumor cells is limited.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
在研究的78%的Wistar大鼠（U亚系）中，自发性莱迪希细胞瘤在12至30月龄之间发生。肿瘤发生的最初迹象，表现为莱迪希细胞结节，在1月龄的U大鼠中就已明显可见。在所有研究的动物中均发现了这些莱迪希细胞结节。在其他品系的大鼠中，未在如此早期观察到这种类型的异常。最早在12至14月龄时发现了莱迪希细胞瘤。肿瘤组织似乎是由结节的快速局灶性生长发展而来。发现肿瘤莱迪希细胞对特异性莱迪希细胞毒物乙烷二甲磺酸盐（EDS）的细胞毒性作用敏感，尽管并非所有肿瘤细胞都被杀死。在正常和肿瘤莱迪希细胞中均可检测到抑制素样免疫反应性，并且在不同组的大鼠中血浆水平差异很大。此外，在形成莱迪希细胞瘤的衰老期或给予EDS后几乎所有莱迪希细胞被杀死时，血浆中抑制素样免疫反应性水平均未发现明显变化。因此，莱迪希细胞和肿瘤细胞对睾丸和血浆中抑制素样免疫反应性总含量的可能贡献可能比预期的重要性要小。在衰老过程中发现血浆睾酮浓度有一些显著波动；然而，血浆睾酮水平与大的莱迪希细胞瘤的出现之间似乎没有相关性。这表明肿瘤细胞产生睾酮的能力有限。（摘要截短至250字）
