Miyabayashi Kanako, Shima Yuichi, Inoue Miki, Sato Tetsuya, Baba Takashi, Ohkawa Yasuyuki, Suyama Mikita, Morohashi Ken-Ichirou
Department of Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Sex Dev. 2017;11(2):53-63. doi: 10.1159/000453323. Epub 2016 Dec 14.
Fetal Leydig cells (FLCs) and adult Leydig cells (ALCs) develop in the mammalian prenatal and postnatal testes, respectively. In mice, FLCs emerge in the interstitial space of the testis as early as embryonic day 12.5 and thereafter increase in number during the fetal stage. We previously established a transgenic mouse line in which FLCs are labeled with EGFP and demonstrated that the EGFP-labeled FLCs were present even in adult testes. However, the characteristics of FLCs during postnatal stages remained unclear. In the present study, a comparison of the transcriptomes of FLCs from prenatal and postnatal testes and of ALCs from adult testes revealed that FLCs gradually alter their characteristics across developmental stages and come to roughly resemble ALCs. Many cholesterogenic genes simultaneously expressed a unique alternation pattern, while many oxidative phosphorylation and β-oxidation (both mitochondrial functions) genes showed a different unique pattern. These metabolic gene expression alterations might be triggered by milieu changes, such as nutrient and oxygen supply, from the prenatal to the postnatal period.
胎儿睾丸间质细胞（FLCs）和成年睾丸间质细胞（ALCs）分别在哺乳动物的产前和产后睾丸中发育。在小鼠中，FLCs最早在胚胎第12.5天出现在睾丸的间质空间，此后在胎儿期数量增加。我们之前建立了一个转基因小鼠品系，其中FLCs用EGFP标记，并证明即使在成年睾丸中也存在EGFP标记的FLCs。然而，产后阶段FLCs的特征仍不清楚。在本研究中，对产前和产后睾丸中的FLCs以及成年睾丸中的ALCs的转录组进行比较，发现FLCs在发育阶段逐渐改变其特征，并大致类似于ALCs。许多胆固醇生成基因同时表达一种独特的交替模式，而许多氧化磷酸化和β-氧化（线粒体功能）基因则表现出不同的独特模式。这些代谢基因表达的改变可能是由从产前到产后时期的环境变化触发的，如营养和氧气供应。
