Hormone responsiveness of cultured Sertoli cells obtained from adult rats after their rapid isolation under less harsh conditions

Abstract

During adulthood, testicular Sertoli cells (Sc) coordinate all stages of germ cell (Gc) development involved in sperm production. However, our understanding about the functions of adult Sc is limited because of the difficulties involved in the process of isolating these cells from the adult testis, mainly because of the presence of large number of advanced Gc which interfere with Sc isolation at this age. Most of our knowledge about Sc function are derived from studies which used pre-pubertal rat Sc (18 ± 2-day old) as it is easy to isolate and culture Sc at this age. To this end, we established a less time consuming and less harsh procedure of isolating Sc from adult (60 days of age) rat testis for facilitating research on Sc-mediated regulation of spermatogenesis during adulthood. The cells were isolated using collagenase digestion at higher temperature, reducing the exposure time of cells to the enzyme. Step-wise digestion with intermittent removal of small clusters of tissue helped in increasing the yield of Sc. Isolated Sc were cultured and treated with FSH and testosterone (T) to evaluate their hormone responsiveness in terms of lactate, E₂, cAMP production. Adult Sc were found to be active and produced high amounts of lactate in a FSH-independent manner. FSH-mediated augmentation of cAMP and E₂ production by adult Sc was less as compared with that by pre-pubertal Sc obtained from 18-day-old rats. Androgen-binding ability of adult Sc was significantly higher than pre-pubertal Sc. Although T treatment remarkably augmented expression of Claudin 11, it failed to augment lactate production by adult Sc. This efficient and rapid procedure for isolation and culture of functionally viable adult rat Sertoli cells may pave the way for determining their role in regulation and maintenance of spermatogenesis.