SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION PATHWAYS IN THE REGULATION OF SERTOLI CELL PROLIFERATION

RIERA M FERNANDA; GALARDO MARÍA N; PELLIZZARI ELIANA H; CIGORRAGA SELVA B; MERONI SILVINA B

Los Cocos, Cordoba

Simposio; The First South American Spring Symposium in Signal Transduction and Molecular Medicine; 2010

Sertoli cells (SC) provide the structural and nutritional support for germ cell development. Considering that each SC is able to support a limited number of germ cells, the final number of SC reached during the proliferative periods determines sperm production capacity. FSH stimulates SC proliferation during fetal and neonatal periods. We analyzed transduction pathways involved in FSH stimulation of SC proliferation and those mechanisms that may be involved in cessation of proliferation at the time of blood-testis barrier formation. Cultures of mitotically active SC isolated from 8-day-old rats were used. We observed that FSH, in addition to PKA, stimulates PI3K/PKB and P70S6K signaling pathways and that all of them participate in SC proliferation. In addition, we observed that FSH inhibits MAPK and AMPK signaling pathways. On the other hand, stimulation of AMPK produced a decrease in FSH-stimulated SC mitosis concomitant with an increase in mRNA levels of the cell cycle inhibitor p19INK4. Altogether, these results suggest that several signal transduction pathways participate in the regulation by FSH of SC proliferation and that activation of AMPK is essential for the regulation of p19INK4d expression and for cessation of SC proliferation in the continuous presence of FSH.