Abnormal patterns of Inhibin B and Androgen Receptor immunoexpression in Sertoli cells of senescent men and chryptorchid patients

REGADERA J; GOMEZ PEREZ R; GALO ED; SERRANO A; SUAREZ QUIAN C; CHEMES H E,; NISTAL M,; P. GONZALEZ PERAMATO

Houston TX.

Congreso; 2010 Annual meeting of the American Society of andrology; 2010

American Soc. of Andrology

 Suarez-Quian CA, Chemes HE *, Nistal M, Gonzalez-Peramato P Abnormal patterns of Inhibin B and Androgen Receptor immunoexpression in Sertoli cells of senescent men and chryptorchid patients Introduction. The presence of Androgen Receptor (AR) and serum Inhibin-B (I-B) has recently been correlated to Sertoli cell function in normal and infertile men; however, conflicting data have been reported in subfertile patients. The present study was undertaken to explore: 1) the relationship between immunohistochemical (IH) expression of I-B and AR and the stages of the seminiferous epithelium; 2) the alterations in immunoexpression of I-B and AR present in testicular atrophy of elderly men and in dysgenetic Sertoli cells found in pubertal chryptorchid testes. Methods. IH determinations of I-B and AR were carried out in normal and  hypospermatogenic seminiferous tubules of 9 testicular biopsies obtained from elderly men with prostate cancer and in 17 postpubertal testes of young patients with undescended testes, using Dako anti-I-B (1/400 dilution), and anti-AR (1/100 dilution) antibodies. Quantification of I-B expression in basal and adluminal Sertoli cell cytoplasm was performed with a Leica software in a 3000 mm2 area. The positivity index of AR in Sertoli cell nuclei was also obtained.   Results. In normal seminiferous tubules, I-B expression was significantly higher in the basal than in the adluminal Sertoli cell cytoplasm. In relation to stages of spermatogenesis, a low adluminal I-B stain of Sertoli cells were observed in the areas next to both immature (p < 0.001) and mature spermatids associations (p < 0.001). In tubules with focal hipospermatogenesis, I-B expression was mildly decreased but in tubular atrophy, the decrease was very pronounced in Sertoli cells adjacent  to areas with absence of primary meiotic spermatocytes. (p<0.001). This change correlated with negative AR expression in Sertoli cell nuclei. In postpubertal chryptorchidism, most dysgenetic Sertoli cells evidenced low or absent  I-B expression and minimal or negative AR reactivity in their round or elongated nuclei.    Conclusions. The present data shows a strong association between Sertoli cell functional impairment and spermatogenic deficiency. The Sertoli/spermatogenic deterioration in chryptorchidism is probably due to the existence of a primary testicular damage probably originated during fetal differentiation.