Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
Biol Reprod. 2012 Jul 1;87(1):13, 1-11. doi: 10.1095/biolreprod.111.095091. Print 2012 Jul.
New data have challenged the convention that the adult Sertoli cell population is fixed and unmodifiable. The Sertoli cell has two distinct functions: 1) formation of the seminiferous cords and 2) provision of nutritional and structural support to developing germ cells. For these to occur successfully, Sertoli cells must undergo many maturational changes between fetal and adult life, the main switches occurring around puberty, including the loss of proliferative activity and the formation of the blood-testis barrier. Follicle-stimulating hormone plays a key role in promoting Sertoli cell proliferation, while thyroid hormone inhibits proliferative activity in early postnatal life. Together these regulate the Sertoli-germ cell complement and sperm output in adulthood. By puberty, the Sertoli cell population is considered to be stable and unmodifiable by hormones. But there is mounting evidence that the size of the adult Sertoli cell population and its maturational status is modifiable by hormones and that Sertoli cells can gain proliferative ability in the spermatogenically disrupted hamster and human model. This new information demonstrates that the adult Sertoli cell population, at least in the settings of testicular regression in the hamster and impaired fertility in humans in vivo and from mice and men in vitro, is not a terminally differentiated population. Data from the hamster now show that the adult Sertoli cell population size is regulated by hormones. This creates exciting prospects for basic and clinical research in testis biology. The potential to replenish an adult Sertoli-germ cell complement to normal in a setting of infertility may now be realized.
新数据挑战了成年支持细胞群体固定且不可改变的传统观念。支持细胞具有两个截然不同的功能：1）形成生精小管；2）为发育中的精原细胞提供营养和结构支持。为了成功实现这些功能，支持细胞必须在胎儿期和成年期之间经历许多成熟变化，主要变化发生在青春期前后，包括增殖活性丧失和血睾屏障的形成。卵泡刺激素在促进支持细胞增殖中起着关键作用，而甲状腺激素在出生后早期抑制增殖活性。这些激素共同调节成年期的支持细胞-精原细胞补充和精子输出。到青春期时，支持细胞群体被认为是稳定的，不受激素影响。但越来越多的证据表明，成年支持细胞群体的大小及其成熟状态可通过激素调节，并且支持细胞在生精障碍的仓鼠和人类模型中可以获得增殖能力。这些新信息表明，成年支持细胞群体，至少在仓鼠睾丸退化和体内人类以及体外小鼠和男性生育力受损的情况下，并不是一个终末分化的群体。来自仓鼠的数据现在表明，成年支持细胞群体的大小受激素调节。这为睾丸生物学的基础和临床研究创造了令人兴奋的前景。在不孕不育的情况下，补充成年支持细胞-精原细胞补充剂以恢复正常的潜力现在可能成为现实。
