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First published online January 30, 2004

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Dynamic junctions at play in spermatogenesis

Cadmium, an environmental pollutant, is bad news for the testis. One of its effects is to disrupt the tight junctions formed by the Sertoli cells in the seminiferous tubules. These tight junctions form the blood-testis barrier (BTB) and, when this barrier is disrupted, germ cell numbers are reduced and infertility results. Now Yan Cheng and colleagues have harnessed the deleterious effect of cadmium to find out how the extensive restructuring of the BTB necessary for normal spermatogenesis is controlled (see p. 783). They show that in rats the cadmium-induced disruption of the BTB (as measured by the loss of the occludin and zonula occludens 1 proteins from tight junctions) is mediated by the TGFß3/p38 MAP kinase signalling pathway. The primary loss of BTB function leads to a secondary disruption of adherens junctions in the testis - adherens junction dynamics are also regulated by TGFß3/p38 MAP kinase signalling. Finally, the researchers propose that the protease inhibitor 2-macroglobulin plays a crucial role in tight junction and adherens junction dynamics in the testis by interacting with TGFß3.

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Related articles in JCS:

Regulation of blood-testis barrier dynamics: an in vivo study

Ching-hang Wong, Dolores D. Mruk, Wing-yee Lui, and C. Yan Cheng
JCS 2004 117: 783-798. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?