The Expression Of ER81 And PEA3 In The Testis And Epididymis Tissues Of Mouse Models

Ets family as one of the largest signal dependent intracellular transcription factor familys has been confirmed contains 11 subfamilies. Ets family factors participate in many sorts of cells activities including growth, development, differentiation and transformation and other processes. They can promote or inhibit DNA transcription and play different regulation roles together with some other cell factors in physiological and pathological processes. Ets related molecule (ERM) is a important member in PEA3 subfamily of Ets family. The latest study suggests that ERM in testis secreted by sertoli cells as one target gene of Glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) can regulate the development of postnatal mammalian testis and the self-renewal of spermatogonial stem, cells (SSCs). PEA3, ER81 and ERM belong to the same subfamily of Ets transcription factors and they have highly conserved homologous domain. In our previous work, we have demonstrated that PEA3 and ER81 express in normal postnatal testis tissue at different developmental stages, and have functions in spermatogenesis. This research focused on whether PEA3 and ER81 were expressed in the testis and epididymis tissues of articular mouse models and their possible regulation function on SSCs self-renewal and differentiation, spermatogenesis, as well as sperm maturation in epididymis.In this experiment, busulfan treated and unilateral cryptorchid mouse models were prepared and confirmed by fluorescence immunohistochemistry and hematoxylin-eosin (HE). In order to investigate the expression regularity of PEA3 and ER81 in two mouse models, RT-PCR and in situ hybridization were used in the experiments to determine the expression of PEA3 and ER81 genes in mouse testis and epididymis. As an anticancer drug, Busulfan is preferentially toxic to spermatogonia including SSCsin testis. After Busulfan peritoneal injection in mice, the number of SSCs showed a sharp decline and touched the bottom line on 8th day, and then resumed and back to normal on 18th day. The results showed that the expression of ER81 in testis started to decrease after busulfan treatment, reduced to the minimum on 5th day, and then increased gradually; no significant change was observed in epididymis, however. The expression of PEA3 in testis was minimized on 10th day after busulfan treatment, and then resumed to normal gradually; its expression in epididymis reduced to minimum on 8th day after treatment.Unilateral cryptorchid mice model simulates cryptorchidism. When the abdominal temperature was higher than normal ambient temperature that testis needed, it would impact testis and epididymis negatively and even make testis shrinking. Spermatogenesis was inhibited and the numbers of spermatogenic cells at different developmental including SSCs decreased gradually. In contrast to the contralateral testis, the size and weight of cryptorchid testis decreased significantly, the seminiferous epithelium shrinked and Plzf positive cells declined remarkablely. The expression of ER81 in cryptorchid testis decreased gradually while no observed changes for the expression level of PEA3. The expression of PEA3 in cryptorchid epididymis decreased gradually at different time points, while no significant changes for ER81.