Effects of melatonin treatment on Leydig cell activity in the testis of the frog Rana esculenta
| Autor: | Sergio Minucci, Michela d'Istria, Diana Ferrara, Gaia Izzo, Gianluca De Rienzo, Ismene Serino |
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| Přispěvatelé: | D'Istria, M., Serino, Ismene, Izzo, G., Ferrara, D., DE RIENZO, G., Minucci, Sergio |
| Rok vydání: | 2004 |
| Předmět: |
Male
endocrine system medicine.medical_specialty Indoles androgen In situ hybridization testis Rana Melatonin Paracrine signalling Leydig cell Internal medicine medicine Animals Testosterone In Situ Hybridization Relaxin Analysis of Variance Sertoli Cells Chemistry Leydig Cells Rana esculenta Cell Biology Sertoli cell Endocrinology medicine.anatomical_structure GnRH Steroids hormones hormone substitutes and hormone antagonists Developmental Biology medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Zygote. 12:293-299 |
| ISSN: | 1469-8730 0967-1994 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0967199404002898 |
| Popis: | This study was conducted to verify the effect(s) of melatonin treatment on frog Leydig cells. Morphological observation after melatonin treatment indicates that many frog Leydig cells show degenerative changes (i.e. heterochromatic nuclei, loss of cellular adhesion) while in adjacent germinal tubules several Sertoli cells show heterochromatic nuclei, confirming the presence of a paracrine effect between interstitial and germinal compartments. The effect of melatonin on frog Leydig cell steroidogenesis was investigated in in vitro experiments; after 6 h of incubation melatonin severely inhibits both control and GnRH-induced testosterone secretion. In addition, in order to verify the effect of indolamine on frog Leydig cell activity, we investigated, by in situ hybridization, the presence of frog relaxin (fRLX, a transcript specifically expressed by these cells) in the testes of melatonin-injected animals after 48 h. fRLX signal completely disappeared from the testis of melatonin-injected frogs. The results of the present study indicate that melatonin treatment provokes Leydig cell morphological changes, blocks GnRH-antagonist-induced testosterone secretion and decreases fRLX expression. Taken together these results strongly indicate that melatonin acts on Leydig cells in the testis of the frog Rana esculenta. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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