Gao Hui, Liu Chao, Li Wei
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Chaoyang, People's Republic of China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1854:71-85. doi: 10.1007/7651_2018_123.
Autophagy is an important intracellular degradation system which is implicated in many physiological and pathological processes. During autophagy, cytosolic constituents such as organelles and macromolecules are engulfed by autophagosome, and then they fuse with lysosomes for degradation and recycle of the engulfed components within the autolysosome to maintain cellular homeostasis. In male testis, the Leydig cells provide the major source of testosterone production. Autophagy is extremely active in Leydig cells and is involved in the steroid production. However, the precise role of autophagy in Leydig cells is still largely unknown. Thus, a comprehensive measurement of autophagic activity with different methods would shed light on our knowledge about the functional role of autophagy in regulating male reproductive physiology. In this chapter, we describe the morphological, cellular, and biochemical methods to monitor autophagy in Leydig cells.
自噬是一种重要的细胞内降解系统，参与许多生理和病理过程。在自噬过程中，细胞器和大分子等胞质成分被自噬体吞噬，然后它们与溶酶体融合，以便在自噬溶酶体内对被吞噬的成分进行降解和循环利用，从而维持细胞内稳态。在雄性睾丸中，睾丸间质细胞是睾酮产生的主要来源。自噬在睾丸间质细胞中极其活跃，并参与类固醇的产生。然而，自噬在睾丸间质细胞中的确切作用仍 largely 未知。因此，用不同方法全面测量自噬活性将有助于我们了解自噬在调节雄性生殖生理中的功能作用。在本章中，我们描述了监测睾丸间质细胞自噬的形态学、细胞和生化方法。
