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[Uchl1 and its associated proteins were involved in spermatocyte apoptosis in mouse experimental cryptorchidism.] [Article in Chinese]

DU Ping, YAO Yu-Wei, SHI Yan, GU Zheng, WANG Jian, SUN Zhao-Gui, ZUO Jia-Ke

Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China； Key Laboratory of Contraceptive Drugs and Devices of National Population and Family Planning Commission of China, Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research, Shanghai 200032, China

Abstract

Uchl1 was found to be involved in spermatocyte apoptosis. The aim of the present study was to test whether Uchl1 and its associated proteins Jab1 and p27kip1 were involved in spermatogenic damages in response to heat-stress in cryptorchidism. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and DNA end labeling (TUNEL) were used to observe morphological and apoptotic characteristics of spermatogenic cells; Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect changes of Uchl1 and its associated proteins Jab1 and p27kip1 in response to heat-stress from cryptorchidism leading to spermatocyte losses; And protein affinity analysis (pull-down) and immunofluorescence co-localization were used to verify the relevance among the three proteins in spermatocytes. The results showed that, Jab1 and p27kip1, in parallel to Uchl1, increased in spermatocytes of apoptotic appearances in response to heat-stress, but not in multinucleated giant cells; Jab1 bound to Uchl1 in testis protein extracts, and co-localized with Uchl1 and p27kip1 specifically in spermatocytes with apoptotic appearances. These results suggest that the accumulation of Uchl1 protein is involved in the heat-stress-induced spermatocyte apoptosis through a new pathway related with Jab1 and p27kip1, but not the formation of multinucleated giant cells.

Key words: Apoptosis; crypotorchidsm; heat-stress response; spermatocyte; Uchl1

Received: 2014-03-06　　Accepted: 2014-04-29

Corresponding author: 王健,孙兆贵　　E-mail: wangjiansippr@126.com, sunzgbio@126.com

Citing This Article：

DU Ping, YAO Yu-Wei, SHI Yan, GU Zheng, WANG Jian, SUN Zhao-Gui, ZUO Jia-Ke. [Uchl1 and its associated proteins were involved in spermatocyte apoptosis in mouse experimental cryptorchidism.] [Article in Chinese]. Acta Physiol Sin 2014; 66 (5): 528-536 (in Chinese with English abstract).