Distribution of PNP 14 (β-synuclein) in neuroendocrine tissues: Localization in Sertoli cells

Abstract

Phosphoneuroprotein (PNP 14) is abundant in the central nervous system and is localized at nerve endings but not in synaptic vesicles. In this study, we examined the presence of PNP 14 in various endocrine tissues of the rat. PNP 14 was not detected in the endocrine cells of the intestine, testes, or adrenal gland, but it was present in axon terminals in both the medulla of the adrenal gland and the anterior pituitary gland. When testes were stained with PNP 14–specific antibodies by an indirect immunofluorescence method, PNP 14 was found in Sertoli cells of the testes, associated with fibrillar structures. PNP 14 was also detected in cultured Sertoli cells with a fibrillar pattern in the cytoplasm and around the nuclei. The fibrillar structure did not resemble actin stress fibers, microtubules, or intermediate filaments. The amount of PNP 14 in the testis changed with development. It increased markedly during the first 4 weeks after birth and then decreased. During the first 4 weeks after birth, spermatogonia undergo two rounds of meiosis. It is possible, therefore, that PNP 14 might be a factor related to meiosis. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 50:163–169, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Effects of carbachol on rat Sertoli cell proliferation and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors regulation: an in vitro study

“…Cyclic AMP production, protein kinase activities and aromatization of testosterone by Sertoli cells were reported to be modulated by h-adrenoceptor agonists (Verhoeven et al, 1979;Welsh et al, 1980). The presence of nerve-related proteins such as phosphoneuroprotein (Shibayama-Imazu et al, 1998) and nerve growth factor (Chen et al, 1997), as well as opioid-related proenkephalin gene in Sertoli cells (Kew and Kilpatrick, 1989), yields further support for neural regulation of Sertoli cell function and, perhaps, spermatogenesis.…”

α-Synuclein Misfolding and Neurodegenerative Diseases

“…This protein, like -synuclein, is expressed predominantly in the brain, however, in contrast to -synuclein, -synuclein is distributed more uniformly throughout the brain [131,132]. Besides the central nervous system -Synuclein was also found in Sertoli cells of the testis [133,134], whereassynuclein was found in platelets [135].…”

Chaperone and anti‐chaperone: Two‐faced synuclein as stimulator of synaptic evolution

“…In the reproductive system, it was previously described that β-© 2006 Japanese Society of Neuropathology syn was expressed in Sertoli cells. 56 Furthermore, other nonamyloidogenic homolog proteins, such as APLP2, Doppel and MAP2c, are abundantly expressed in the reproductive system, [57][58][59] raising the possibility that chaperone actions of nonamyloidogenic homolog proteins might be important in morphological evolution in reproduction system. Obviously, further investigations are required to clarify the role of syn proteins in both neural development and reproduction.…”