Ornithine decarboxylase activity during rat spermatogenesis in vivo and in vitro: selective effect of hormones and growth factors.

We have established the patterns of ornithine decarboxylase activity (an enzyme related to cell growth, differentiation, and proliferation) during rat testicular development and studied the effect of epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), transforming growth factor-type beta (TGF-beta), and a serum-free, hormone/growth factor-supplemented medium (TKM) on ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity in Sertoli-spermatogenic cell cocultures and cultured seminiferous peritubular cells prepared from sexually immature rats (20-22 days old). Results were correlated with timing of ODC activities during rat testicular development. We have found that: (1) although EGF, alone or combined with PDGF and TGF-beta, and TKM stimulated ODC activity in Sertoli-spermatogenic cell cocultures after 6 and 24 h of stimulation, PDGF exerted an inhibitory effect, and (2) cultured peritubular cells stimulated with EGF, PDGF, TGF-beta (and their combinations), and TKM displayed an increase in ODC activity after 6 h of stimulation, but ODC activities for most of these treatments declined considerably 24 h after stimulation. Light microscopic autoradiographic studies of [3H]thymidine labeled samples demonstrated that (1) clones of spermatogenic cells traverse S phase synchronously, (2) Sertoli cells are not significantly radiolabeled, probably because of contact inhibition achieved by high cell plating density, and (3) peritubular cells are significantly [3H]thymidine labeled in the presence of TKM, a culture medium that facilitates spermatogenic cell long-term viability and differentiation. We conclude that TKM and EGF have stimulatory effects on the biochemical pathway that precedes synchronous DNA synthesis in spermatogonia and preleptotene spermatocytes, and that ODC activity is a sensitive marker for monitoring these events.