Department of Anatomy, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 5;8(8):e70967. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070967. Print 2013.
The Sertoli cells of the testes secrete anti-Müllerian hormone (Müllerian inhibiting Substance, AMH) and inhibin B (InhB). AMH triggers the degeneration of the uterine precursor in male embryos, whereas InhB is part of the gonadal-pituitary axis for the regulation of sperm production in adults. However, both hormones are also putative regulators of homeostasis, and age-related changes in these hormones may therefore be important to the health status of elderly men. The levels of AMH in elderly men are unknown, with limited information being available about age-related changes in InhB. We have therefore used ELISAs to measure Sertoli cell hormone levels in 3 cohorts of community-dwelling men in New Zealand. In total, 615 men were examined, 493 of which were aged 65 or older. Serum AMH and InhB levels inversely correlated with age in men older than 50 years (p<0.001) but not in the younger men. A minority of elderly men had undetectable levels of AMH and InhB. The variation in hormone levels between similarly aged men increased with the age of men. AMH and InhB partially correlated with each other as expected (r = 0.48, p<0.001). However, the ratio of the two Sertoli hormones varied significantly between men, with this variation increasing with age. Elderly men selected for the absence of cardiovascular disease had AMH levels similar to those of young men whereas their InhB levels did not differ from aged-matched controls. These data suggests that Sertoli cell number and function changes with age, but with the extent and nature of the changes varying between men.
睾丸的支持细胞分泌抗缪勒管激素（缪勒管抑制物质，AMH）和抑制素 B（InhB）。AMH 触发雄性胚胎中子宫前体的退化，而 InhB 是调节成年男性精子生成的性腺-垂体轴的一部分。然而，这两种激素也是内稳态的假定调节剂，因此这些激素的年龄相关性变化可能对老年男性的健康状况很重要。老年男性的 AMH 水平尚不清楚，关于 InhB 的年龄相关性变化的信息也很有限。因此，我们使用 ELISA 法在新西兰的 3 个社区居住的男性队列中测量了支持细胞激素水平。总共检查了 615 名男性，其中 493 名年龄在 65 岁或以上。血清 AMH 和 InhB 水平与 50 岁以上男性的年龄呈负相关（p<0.001），但在年轻男性中则无此相关性。少数老年男性的 AMH 和 InhB 水平无法检测到。激素水平在年龄相似的男性之间的变化随着男性年龄的增加而增加。AMH 和 InhB 彼此之间部分相关（r = 0.48，p<0.001）。然而，两种支持细胞激素之间的比值在男性之间差异显著，且随着年龄的增加而增加。选择没有心血管疾病的老年男性的 AMH 水平与年轻男性相似，而他们的 InhB 水平与年龄匹配的对照组没有差异。这些数据表明，支持细胞数量和功能随年龄而变化，但变化的程度和性质在男性之间存在差异。
