Evidence for the expression of fibroblast growth factor receptors in the human testis

SAUCEDO L; BUFFA GN; ROSSO, M; ALVAREZ SEDO, C; CHEMES H; VAZQUEZ LEVIN, M; MARIN BRIGGILER, CI

Chascomus

Congreso; XVI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Biología; 2014

Sociedad Argentina de Biologia

Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptors (FGFRs) have been widely characterized in several tissues; however, there is scarce evidence for their presence and function in the reproductive tissue and gametes. The objective of the present study was to describe FGFR1, 2, 3 and 4 expression in the human testis and in testicular sperm. Using RT-PCR and specific primers, all FGFR transcripts were detected in the human testis, as well as in MCF7 cells used as control. In Western immunoblotting studies, specific bands of the expected molecular weight for the FGFRs were found in testicular protein extracts. The localization of FGFRs in the seminiferous epithelium was analyzed by immunohistochemistry: FGFR1 was found in the nuclei of Sertoli cells, spermatogonia and spermatids, FGFR2 was detected in the nuclei of Sertoli cells, FGFR3 was found in spermatogonia plasma membrane and cytoplasm as well as in spermatid acrosome, and FGFR4 was mainly localized in the nuclei of Sertoli and all germ cells. FGFRs were also immunodetected in the acrosomal region and/or the flagellum of sperm recovered from the testis. In conclusion, our study showed that FGFRs are expressed in the human testis, and localized in Sertoli and germ cells, suggesting that they would participate in spermatogenesis and/or in testicular function.