Verhoeven G, Cailleau J
Mol Cell Endocrinol. 1986 Sep;47(1-2):99-106. doi: 10.1016/0303-7207(86)90020-1.
We studied the effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on steroidogenesis in freshly prepared Percoll-purified Leydig cells from prepubertal and adult rats and mice, and in interstitial cells from immature rats cultured in the presence or absence of LH. It is demonstrated that EGF directly stimulates the output of C19-steroids (testosterone and androstenedione) as well as C21-steroids (progesterone, 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone and 20 alpha-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one) in all systems studied. When combined with LH, EGF has little effect on freshly isolated cells but still stimulates steroidogenesis in cells cultured in the presence of LH. The strong inhibitory effects of EGF on androgen production that have been reported previously are only observed when cells that have lost part of their steroidogenic potential by prolonged culture in the absence of LH are acutely challenged with LH (or cholera toxin or dbcAMP) and EGF. Under the latter conditions EGF blocks the conversion of C21-steroids into C19-steroids. The stimulatory effects of EGF on androgen production are evident within the first hours of incubation and occur at ED50 values of 0.3 up to 2.5 ng/ml. They are not accompanied by any measurable change in the production of cAMP. The effects of EGF are compared to those of LHRH and those of SCF, a putative paracrine factor produced by Sertoli cells. Although there are many similarities between the effects of these three polypeptides on steroidogenesis in Leydig cells, our data indicate that they must act by different mechanisms. Moreover, SCF is the only one of these agonists that markedly stimulates androgen production in the presence of LH.
我们研究了表皮生长因子（EGF）对来自青春期前和成年大鼠及小鼠的经Percoll纯化的新鲜制备的睾丸间质细胞，以及在有无促黄体生成素（LH）存在情况下培养的未成熟大鼠间质细胞中类固醇生成的影响。结果表明，在所有研究系统中，EGF直接刺激C19类固醇（睾酮和雄烯二酮）以及C21类固醇（孕酮、17α-羟孕酮和20α-羟基孕-4-烯-3-酮）的分泌。当与LH联合使用时，EGF对新鲜分离的细胞影响不大，但仍能刺激在LH存在下培养的细胞的类固醇生成。先前报道的EGF对雄激素生成的强烈抑制作用仅在因长期在无LH情况下培养而失去部分类固醇生成潜力的细胞受到LH（或霍乱毒素或二丁酰环磷腺苷）和EGF急性刺激时才会观察到。在后者情况下，EGF会阻断C21类固醇向C19类固醇的转化。EGF对雄激素生成的刺激作用在孵育的最初几个小时内就很明显，ED50值为0.3至2.5 ng/ml。它们不会伴随cAMP生成的任何可测量变化。将EGF的作用与促性腺激素释放激素（LHRH）以及干细胞因子（SCF，一种由支持细胞产生的假定旁分泌因子）的作用进行了比较。尽管这三种多肽对睾丸间质细胞类固醇生成的作用有许多相似之处，但我们的数据表明它们的作用机制一定不同。此外，SCF是这些激动剂中唯一在LH存在下能显著刺激雄激素生成的一种。
