Heat-induced apoptosis of mouse meiotic cells is suppressed by ectopic expression of testis-specific calpastatin

Journal of Andrology
Lily SomwaruB R Zirkin

Abstract

Calpastatin is a naturally occurring inhibitor of calpain, a protease involved in apoptotic cell death. A testis-specific isoform of calpastatin (tCAST) has been identified that is transcribed in haploid germ cells but not in spermatocytes. To investigate the possible function(s) of tCAST, we tested the hypothesis that the ectopic expression of calpastatin in spermatocytes would suppress the death of these cells in response to an apoptosis-inducing stimulus in vivo. To this end, the 5'-flanking region of the mouse ldhc gene was linked to tCAST, and transgenic mice were generated. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that, in contrast to control sections in which the signal for tCAST was seen in round spermatids, intense staining was visualized in pachytene spermatocytes in the transgenic animals, indicating that the strategy we used to generate the transgenic animals resulted in the ectopic expression of tCAST in spermatocytes. We then tested the effect of a short period of heating on germ cell apoptosis in the testes of wild-type and transgenic mice. Pachytene spermatocytes were the major germ cell type seen to undergo apoptosis after heat treatment. There were no differences in the number of apoptotic germ cells per seminife...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 15, 2009·Journal of Cellular Physiology·Carlos LizamaRicardo D Moreno
Oct 12, 2012·Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity·Juan G ReyesRicardo D Moreno
Jan 20, 2017·Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity·Asmaa Ibrahim AhmedKhaled Mohamed El-Zawahry
Dec 18, 2012·Reproduction : the Official Journal of the Society for the Study of Fertility·José A PinoJuan G Reyes

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Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis