Endocrinology, Vol 137, 1249-1257, Copyright © 1996 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Expression and regulation of neuropeptide Y messenger ribonucleic acid in cultured immature rat Leydig and Sertoli cells

M Kanzaki, M Fujisawa, Y Okuda, H Okada, S Arakawa and S Kamidono
Department of Urology, Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) potentiates the release of gonadotropins from the pituitary in response to GnRH in the hypothalamus and modulates reproductive function. In the present study, we showed that 1) specific organs in the male rat reproductive tract express NPY messenger RNA (mRNA); 2) the multifactorial regulation of NPY mRNA in rat Leydig and Sertoli cells is temporally and hormonally regulated in vitro; 3) both Sertoli cell factor(s) and germ cell factor(s) potentiated to stimulate NPY gene levels in Leydig cells; and 4) intense NPY immunoreactivity was detected in cultured Leydig cells. Using the RT-PCR method, we found that Leydig cells, Sertoli cells, epididymis, and vas deferens expressed NPY mRNA, whereas germ cells, seminal vesicle, and prostate did not. Northern blot analyses showed that NPY mRNA was not expressed in freshly isolated immature Leydig cells, but that NPY mRNA levels were increased by the addition of LH, cytokines such as interleukin-1 alpha and -1 beta, forskolin, or phorbol 13-myristate 12-acetate. Npy mRNA levels in immature Sertoli cells were also increased by FSH. In addition, a germ cell factor(s) secreted from pachytene spermatocytes or round spermatids purified by centrifugal elutriation as well as a Sertoli cell factor(s) stimulated by FSH increased NPY gene levels in Leydig cells. Immunocytochemical analyses showed that the immunostaining was more marked in Leydig cells than in Sertoli cells in vitro. These findings indicate that testicular NPY gene expression is induced in Leydig cells or Sertoli cells by gonadotropins or cytokines within the testes, and that factors secreted from Sertoli cells or germ cells affect NPY gene expression in Leydig cells in vitro. Our findings suggest that NPY expressed in the reproductive system may modulate reproductive function as well as that in the nervous system.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. M. Jervis and B. Robaire Dynamic Changes in Gene Expression along the Rat Epididymis Biol Reprod, September 1, 2001; 65(3): 696 - 703. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Martín, B. Fraile, F. Peinado, M. I. Arenas, M. Elices, L. Alonso, R. Paniagua, J. J. Martín, and L. Santamaría Immunohistochemical Localization of Protein Gene Product 9.5, Ubiquitin, and Neuropeptide Y Immunoreactivities in Epithelial and Neuroendocrine Cells from Normal and Hyperplastic Human Prostate J. Histochem. Cytochem., August 1, 2000; 48(8): 1121 - 1130. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				L. Gnessi, A. Fabbri, and G. Spera Gonadal Peptides as Mediators of Development and Functional Control of the Testis: An Integrated System with Hormones and Local Environment Endocr. Rev., August 1, 1997; 18(4): 541 - 609. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Tatsumi, M. Fujisawa, M. Kanzaki, Y. Okuda, H. Okada, S. Arakawa, and S. Kamidono Nitric Oxide Production by Cultured Rat Leydig Cells Endocrinology, March 1, 1997; 138(3): 994 - 998. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]