Spermatogenesis is the process by which a single spermatogonium develops into 256 spermatozoa, one of which will fertilize the ovum. Since the 1950s when the stages of the epithelial cycle were first described, reproductive biologists have been in pursuit of one question: How can a spermatogonium traverse the epithelium, while at the same time differentiating into elongate spermatids that remain attached to the Sertoli cell throughout their development? Although it was generally agreed upon that junction restructuring was involved, at that time the types of junctions present in the testis were not even discerned. Today, it is known that tight, anchoring, and gap junctions are found in the testis. The testis also has two unique anchoring junction types, the ectoplasmic specialization and tubulobulbar complex. However, attention has recently shifted on identifying the regulatory molecules that "open" and "close" junctions, because this information will be useful in elucidating the mechanism of germ cell movement. For instance, cytokines have been shown to induce Sertoli cell tight junction disassembly by shutting down the production of tight junction proteins. Other factors such as proteases, protease inhibitors, GTPases, kinases, and phosphatases also come into play. In this review, we focus on this cellular phenomenon, recapping recent developments in the field.

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Spermatogenesis is an intriguing but complicated biological process. However, many studies since the 1960s have focused either on the hormonal events of the hypothalamus-pituitary-testicular axis or morphological events that take place in the seminiferous epithelium. Recent advances in biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular biology have shifted attention to understanding some of the key events that regulate spermatogenesis, such as germ cell apoptosis, cell cycle regulation, Sertoli-germ cell communication, and junction dynamics. In this review, we discuss the physiology and biology of junction dynamics in the testis, in particular how these events affect interactions of Sertoli and germ cells in the seminiferous epithelium behind the blood-testis barrier. We also discuss how these events regulate the opening and closing of the blood-testis barrier to permit the timely passage of preleptotene and leptotene spermatocytes across the blood-testis barrier. This is physiologically important since developing germ cells must translocate across the blood-testis barrier as well as traverse the seminiferous epithelium during their development. We also discuss several available in vitro and in vivo models that can be used to study Sertoli-germ cell anchoring junctions and Sertoli-Sertoli tight junctions. An in-depth survey in this subject has also identified several potential targets to be tackled to perturb spermatogenesis, which will likely lead to the development of novel male contraceptives.

Spermiation—the release of mature spermatozoa from Sertoli cells into the seminiferous tubule lumen—occurs by the disruption of an anchoring device known as the apical ectoplasmic specialization (apical ES). At the same time, the blood–testis barrier (BTB) undergoes extensive restructuring to facilitate the transit of preleptotene spermatocytes. While these two cellular events take place at opposite ends of the Sertoli cell epithelium, the events are in fact tightly coordinated, as any disruption in either process will lead to infertility. A local regulatory axis exists between the apical ES and the BTB in which biologically active laminin fragments produced at the apical ES by the action of matrix metalloproteinase 2 can regulate BTB restructuring directly or indirectly via the hemidesmosome. Equally important, polarity proteins play a crucial part in coordinating cellular events within this apical ES–BTB–hemidesmosome axis. Additionally, testosterone and cytokines work in concert to facilitate BTB restructuring, which enables the transit of spermatocytes while maintaining immunological barrier function. Herein, we will discuss this important autocrine-based cellular axis that parallels the hormonal-based hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis that regulates spermatogenesis. This local regulatory axis is the emerging target for male contraception.

During spermatogenesis, the movement of developing germ cells across the seminiferous epithelium associates with extensive restructuring of cell-cell actin-based adherens junctions (AJs), such as ectoplasmic specialization (ES, a testis-specific AJ junction), between Sertoli and germ cells. Although this event of germ cell movement is essential to the completion of spermatogenesis, the mechanism(s) that regulates AJ restructuring is largely unknown. Using Sertoli-germ cells cocultured in vitro to study the regulation of AJ assembly, it was shown that this event associated with a transient induction of beta 1-integrin, vinculin, p-FAK-Tyr(397), and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) but not the nonphosphorylated form of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), paxillin, and p130 Cas. Furthermore, p-FAK-Tyr(397) was shown to coimmunoprecipitate with beta 1-integrin, vinculin, and c-Src both in vitro and in vivo using Sertoli-germ cell cocultures and seminiferous tubules, respectively. These results seemingly suggest that the testis is using constituent proteins of the focal adhesion complex (FAC) found in other epithelia between cell and extracellular matrix to regulate AJ dynamics. To further confirm that p-FAK, a putative FAC protein in other epithelia, is indeed present at the site of ES, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent microscopy were used. The p-FAK-Tyr(397) and p-FAK-Tyr(576) were found to localize almost exclusively at the site of apical ES with weak staining at the basal ES in the seminiferous epithelium in a stage-specific manner, being highest at stages VI-VIII. In contrast, FAK was largely restricted to the basal compartment but with weak staining at the apical compartment. When rats were treated with 1-(2,4-dichlorobenzyl)-indazole-3-carbohydrazide (AF-2364) to perturb Sertoli-germ cell AJs, an induction of beta 1-integrin, vinculin, p-FAK-Tyr(397), PI3K, and p130 Cas but not the nonphosphorylated form of FAK and paxillin was also detected in the testis, coinciding with the time spermatids began to deplete from the epithelium, indicating their involvement in AJ disassembly. Thereafter, the levels of vinculin, p-FAK-Tyr(397), PI3K, and p130 Cas in the testis plunged, coinciding with the declining events of AJ disruption when virtually all spermatids were depleted from the epithelium. Taken collectively, these results suggest a bifunctional role of p-FAK, being involved in the events of Sertoli-germ cell AJ assembly and disassembly. In summary, the events of AJ dynamics in the testis, in particular at the site of ES, are regulated, at least in part, by proteins that are found in the FAC in other epithelia, such as beta1-integrin, vinculin, and FAK utilizing the integrin/pFAK/PI3K/p130 Cas signaling pathway.

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental toxicant and an endocrine disruptor in humans. Several organs (e.g., kidney, liver) are affected by Cd and recent studies have illustrated that the testis is exceedingly sensitive to Cd toxicity. More important, Cd and other toxicants, such as heavy metals (e.g., lead, mercury) and estrogenic-based compounds (e.g., bisphenols) may account for the recent declining fertility in men among developed countries by reducing sperm count and testis function. In this review, we critically discuss recent data in the field that have demonstrated the Cd-induced toxicity to the testis is probably the result of interactions of a complex network of causes. This is likely to involve the disruption of the blood-testis barrier (BTB) via specific signal transduction pathways and signaling molecules, such as p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). We also summarize current studies on factors that confer the testis sensitivity to Cd, such as Cd transporters and metallothioneins, and the impact of Cd on the testis as an endocrine disruptor, oxidative stress inducer and how it may disrupt the Zn +2 and/or Ca +2 mediated cellular events. While much work is needed before a unified mechanistic pathway of Cd-induced testicular toxicity is emerged, recent studies have helped to identify some of the likely mechanisms and/or events that take place during Cdinduced testis injury. Furthermore, some of the recent studies have shed lights on potential therapeutic or preventive approaches that can be developed in future studies by blocking or minimizing the destructive effects of Cd to testicular function in men.

During spermatogenesis in the mammalian testis, preleptotene/leptotene spermatocytes differentiate from type B spermatogonia and traverse the blood-testis barrier (BTB) at stage VIII of the seminiferous epithelial cycle for further development. This timely movement of germ cells involves extensive junction restructuring at the BTB. Previous studies have shown that these events are regulated by testosterone (T) and cytokines [e.g., the transforming growth factor (TGF) -betas], which promote and disrupt the BTB assembly, respectively. However, the mechanisms underlying the "opening" of the BTB above a migrating preleptotene/leptotene spermatocyte and the "resealing" of the barrier underneath this cell remain obscure. We now report findings on a novel mechanism utilized by the testes to regulate these events. Using cell surface protein biotinylation coupled with immunoblotting and immunofluorescent microscopy, we assessed the kinetics of endocytosis and recycling of BTB-associated integral membrane proteins: occludin, JAM-A, and N-cadherin. It was shown that these proteins were continuously endocytosed and recycled back to the Sertoli cell surface via the clathrin-mediated but not the caveolin-mediated pathway. When T or TGF-beta2 was added to Sertoli cell cultures with established functional BTB, both factors accelerated the kinetics of internalization of BTB proteins from the cell surface, perhaps above the migrating preleptotene spermatocyte, thereby opening the BTB. Likewise, T also enhanced the kinetics of recycling of internalized biotinylated proteins back to the cell surface, plausibly relocating these proteins beneath the migrating spermatocyte to reassemble the BTB. In contrast, TGF-beta2 targeted internalized biotinylated proteins to late endosomes for degradation, destabilizing the BTB. In summary, the transient opening of the BTB that facilitates germ cell movement is mediated via the differential effects of T and cytokines on the kinetics of endocytosis and recycling of integral membrane proteins at the BTB. The net result of these interactions, in turn, determines the steady-state protein levels at the Sertoli-Sertoli cell interface at the BTB.

Spermatogenesis is the cellular process by which spermatogonia develop into mature spermatids within seminiferous tubules, the functional unit of the mammalian testis, under the structural and nutritional support of Sertoli cells and the precise regulation of endocrine factors. As germ cells develop, they traverse the seminiferous epithelium, a process that involves restructuring of Sertoli-germ cell junctions, as well as Sertoli-Sertoli cell junctions at the blood-testis barrier. The blood-testis barrier, one of the tightest tissue barriers in the mammalian body, divides the seminiferous epithelium into 2 compartments, basal and adluminal. The blood-testis barrier is different from most other tissue barriers in that it is not only comprised of tight junctions. Instead, tight junctions coexist and cofunction with ectoplasmic specializations, desmosomes, and gap junctions to create a unique microenvironment for the completion of meiosis and the subsequent development of spermatids into spermatozoa via spermiogenesis. Studies from the past decade or so have identified the key structural, scaffolding, and signaling proteins of the blood-testis barrier. More recent studies have defined the regulatory mechanisms that underlie blood-testis barrier function. We review here the biology and regulation of the mammalian blood-testis barrier and highlight research areas that should be expanded in future studies.