Specific expression of the mRNA for 25 kDA heat-shock protein in the spermatocytes of mouse seminiferous tubules |
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Authors: | Wakayama T Iseki S |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-8640, Japan e-mail: siseki@med.kanazawa-u.ac.jp, Fax: +81-76-2344220, JP |
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Abstract: | The 25 kDa heat-shock protein (Hsp25) is a member of the family of small heat-shock proteins. We investigated the expression
and cellular localization of Hsp25 mRNA in the testis of adult and developing mice using Northern blotting and in situ hybridization
techniques. In the early postnatal days, i.e., before the onset of spermatogenesis, no Hsp25 mRNA was detected in the testis.
At around 10 days postpartum, Hsp25 mRNA began to be expressed in the testis in coincidence with the onset of the first wave
of spermatogenesis and increased in amount progressively toward adulthood. Throughout the testis development, the signal for
Hsp25 mRNA was localized exclusively to germ cells and was not detected in Sertoli or interstitial cells. The testis of W/Wv mutant mice, which lack the germ cell line, exhibited no Hsp25 mRNA expression. In the testis of normal adult mice, the abundance
of Hsp25 mRNA differed among the seminiferous tubules in different stages of spermatogenesis. The most intense signal for
Hsp25 mRNA was localized to the spermatocytes at leptotene, zygotene and early pachytene phases, which are present in the
tubules of stages I–III and IX–XII. The signal decreased in intensity in the late pachytene and diplotene spermatocytes and
was not detected in spermatids. Spermatogonia were also devoid of the signal. These results suggested that Hsp25 plays some
specific role in the meiotic prophase of the testicular germ cell.
Accepted: 27 Oct 1998 |
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Keywords: | In situ hybridization Gene expression Heat-shock protein Testis Spermatogenesis |
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