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Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Regulation of Androgen-Binding Protein Messenger RNA in Sertoli Cell Cultures

Department of Pediatrics, Laboratories for Reproductive Biology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
Department of Physiology, Laboratories for Reproductive Biology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599

Address requests for reprints to: Dr. David Joseph, Department of Pediatrics CB 7500, MacNider 202H, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599.

Abstract

FSH plays an important role in testicular Sertoli cell differentiation and function in spermatogenesis. Previous studies using rat androgen-binding protein (ABP) as a marker of FSH action on Sertoli cells have demonstrated in vivo and in vitro regulation of ABP. We now have extended these studies to examine FSH regulation of ABP mRNA using Northern blot hybridization. In the immature rat testicular ABP mRNA [1.7- and 2.3-kilobase (kb) species] increased with age and reached a maximum 20 days postpartum, coincident with an increased plasma FSH concentration. To determine the direct effect of FSH on Sertoli cells, we examined ABP mRNA in vitro. In Sertoli cell-enriched cultures FSH was found to maintain the major 1.7-kb ABP RNA transcript level over 5 days of treatment in a dose-dependent manner, whereas in the absence of FSH, ABP mRNA declined with time in culture. The ABP mRNA maintenance by FSH was accompanied by higher concentrations of secreted immunoreactive ABP, which declined in the absence of FSH. This FSH effect on ABP mRNA and secreted ABP was mimicked by the cAMP analog (Bu)₂cAMP. After the decline of ABP mRNA during culture, administration of FSH did not result in a detectable increase in the 1.7-kb ABP mRNA within 3 days, whereas cAMP and c-fos mRNA were rapidly induced within 15 min. On the contrary, the level of the minor hybridizing ABP mRNA (2.3 kb) was altered by FSH, indicating differential regulation of the 1.7- and 2.3-kb hybridizing species. Also, after FSH deprivation, tissue plasminogen activator and inhibin mRNA were substantially increased within 6 h of FSH treatment. Thus, the effect of FSH on ABP mRNA is clearly unlike other studied FSH-regulated Sertoli cell mRNAs. The regulatory mechanism of this phenomenon may be transcrip-tional and/or posttranscriptional.

FOOTNOTES

This work was supported by USPHS Grants HD-21744, HD-20788, and 5-P30-HD-18968 and a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Received for publication September 18, 1989. Revision received November 21, 1989. Accepted for publication November 21, 1989.

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