Verhoeven G, Cailleau J
Laboratorium voor Experimentele Geneeskunde en Endocrinologie, Department of Developmental Biology, Onderwijs en Navorsing, Leuven, Belgium.
J Androl. 1991 Jan-Feb;12(1):9-17.
Transplantable rat Leydig cell tumor H-540 was used to study the interactions between Leydig and Sertoli cells. These tumor cells maintain their steroidogenic capacity when cultured. Their responsiveness to a number of agonists that affect normal Leydig cells is markedly changed. Steroidogenesis can no longer be stimulated by luteinizing hormone (LH), but the cells remain responsive to dibutyrylcyclic adenosine monophosphate (dbcAMP) and cholera toxin. Cultured cells mainly produce C21-steroids, but the ability to produce androgens can be restored by pretreatment with dbcAMP. Coculture with Sertoli cells increases steroidogenesis in H-540 cells, and this effect is enhanced by follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Experiments with a two-chamber culture system show that these effects are mediated by one or more diffusible factors, some of which may be short-acting. SCF, a Sertoli cell-derived factor that stimulates normal Leydig cells, is not the mediator in this system since it is unable to stimulate steroidogenesis in Leydig tumor cells. Immunoneutralization experiments show that insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) is a permissive factor required to maintain steroidogenesis in Leydig tumor monocultures and in cocultures with Sertoli cells, but addition of IGF-I does not mimic the stimulatory effect of coculture. It was concluded that factors other than SCF and IGF-I must be involved in the stimulatory effects of coculture, and that H-540 cells may be a useful tool for the study of these factors.
可移植性大鼠睾丸间质细胞瘤H-540被用于研究睾丸间质细胞和支持细胞之间的相互作用。这些肿瘤细胞在培养时保持其类固醇生成能力。它们对许多影响正常睾丸间质细胞的激动剂的反应性发生了显著变化。促黄体生成素（LH）不再能刺激类固醇生成，但细胞对二丁酰环磷酸腺苷（dbcAMP）和霍乱毒素仍有反应。培养的细胞主要产生C21类固醇，但用dbcAMP预处理可恢复其产生雄激素的能力。与支持细胞共培养可增加H-540细胞的类固醇生成，促卵泡激素（FSH）可增强这种作用。双室培养系统实验表明，这些作用是由一种或多种可扩散因子介导的，其中一些可能是短效的。干细胞因子（SCF）是一种由支持细胞产生的刺激正常睾丸间质细胞的因子，但它不是该系统中的介导因子，因为它无法刺激睾丸间质肿瘤细胞的类固醇生成。免疫中和实验表明，胰岛素样生长因子I（IGF-I）是维持睾丸间质肿瘤单培养物以及与支持细胞共培养物中类固醇生成所需的允许因子，但添加IGF-I并不能模拟共培养的刺激作用。得出的结论是，共培养的刺激作用必定涉及SCF和IGF-I以外的因子，并且H-540细胞可能是研究这些因子的有用工具。
