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Submitted on June 5, 2003
Accepted on November 14, 2003
1 Institute for Hormone and Fertility Researchat the University of Hamburg, Grandweg 64, 22529 Hamburg, Germany, VCAPP, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6520, USA, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455, USA, and Institute of Anatomy, University of Hamburg, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mueller{at}ihf.de.
By interacting with a guanylyl cyclase (GC) activity-containing receptor, termed GC-A, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) acts as a regulator of blood pressure and fluid volume homeostasis. High expression levels of GC-A in the testis and reported effects of ANP on testosterone secretion by Leydig cells are indicative of important local functions in this organ. Here we show, based on radioligand receptor labeling and immunological approaches, that seminiferous tubules rather than Leydig cells are the predominant GC-A expression sites in the rat testis. Functional activity was proved by ANP-induced cGMP accumulation in isolated seminiferous tubules. While ontogenetic studies revealed a massive increase in GC-A levels during sexual maturation, the so-called natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (NPR-C), another type of ANP receptor proposed to locally control the availability of natriuretic peptides, was found to be expressed predominantly before puberty, exceeding the level of GC-A expression at this time. NPR-C also shows a distinct distribution pattern surrounding the seminiferous tubules. These findings raise the possibility of novel physiological roles for ANP and cGMP in the testis related to germ cell maturation and/or the regulation of the onset of puberty and suggest that the two ANP receptors function in a coordinated manner at this target organ.
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