The postnatal development of the rat Leydig cell

Tae, Hyun-Jin; Li, Li-Guang; Park, Byung-Yong; Park, Young-Jae; Choi, Eun-Young; Lee, Young-Hoon; Ahn, Dong-Choon; Kang, Hyung-Sub; Park, Sang-Youel; Park, Soo-Hyun; Lee, John-Hwa; Yang, Hong-Hyun; Kim, In-Shik

Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 2003;43(4):531-539.

Hyun-Jin Tae¹, Li-Guang Li¹, Byung-Yong Park¹, Young-Jae Park¹, Eun-Young Choi¹, Young-Hoon Lee², Dong-Choon Ahn³, Hyung-Sub Kang⁴, Sang-Youel Park⁴, Soo-Hyun Park⁴, John-Hwa Lee⁴, Hong-Hyun Yang⁴, In-Shik Kim⁴

¹College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonbuk National University
²School of Dentistry, Chonbuk National University
³Department of Veterinary Medicine, Kangwon National University
⁴Bio-Safety Research Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonbuk National University

흰쥐에서 출생후 고환 간질세포의 발생

태현진¹, 이여광¹, 박병용¹, 박영재¹, 최은영¹, 이영훈², 안동춘³, 강형섭⁴, 박상열⁴, 박수현⁴, 이존화⁴, 양홍현⁴, 김인식⁴

¹전북대학교 수의과대학
²전북대학교 치과대학 해부학교실
³강원대학교 수의학과
⁴전북대학교 수의과대학 생체안전성연구소

Abstract

Changes in the rat testis interstitium from birth to adulthood were studied using Sprague Dawley rats of 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 40, 60, and 90 days of age to investigate Leydig cell differentiation. In addition, serum testosterone concentrations and luteinizing hormone stimulated (LH; 100 ng/ml) testosterone secretory capacity per testis in vitro were determined via radioimmunoassay. Fetal Leydig cells were present in rat testes from birth to 21 days, and they were only steroidogenic cells in the testis at days 1 and 7. The average volume of a fetal Leydig cell and the absolute volume of fetal Leydig cell per testis were similar at all ages of experimental groups except at day 21 when lower values were observed for both parameters. The number of fetal Leydig cells per testis remained constant from birth through 21 days. Adult Leydig cells were recognized at day 14 and their absolute volume and number per testis increased linearly from 14 to 90 days. The average volume of an adult Leydig cell increased significantly with age and reached maximum size by 60 days of age where the volume was nearly three times bigger than that of at day 14. Total testosterone production per testis in vitro and serum testosterone concentrations were not significantly different at day 1 compared with 7, 14, and 21 days of age. Significant increases were observed at days 40 and 60. Values at days 60 and 90 were not significantly different.

Key Words: Rat, Leydig cell, Postnatal development