Testicular Macrophages

Effects of Ethane Dimethane Sulfonate on the Functional Structure of the Adult Rat Testis

“…A high and a constant ratio between LC and macrophages in the testis interstitium is reported throughout development [13,14,17]. The increase in macrophage number [10,15,32] without a detectable inflammatory response [32] in treated rats agrees with previous reports and supports the view that macrophages are needed in the EDS-treated testes for phagocytosis and removal of the apoptotic LC without overactivation of other components of the inflammatory response [10,11].…”

“…Within days following the EDS treatment these small macrophages have the potential to grow and reach their normal size, aided by the factors secreted by the LC [7,18]. Generation abundance of macrophages before the onset LC differentiation can also be viewed as a prerequisite for the onset of LC differentiation, since elimination of macrophages during this period prevents this process [9,13]. These changes seen in LC and macrophage numbers following EDS treatment prompt an interdependence of these two cell types for their specific functions (reviewed in [14]).…”

Key factors in the regulation of fetal and postnatal leydig cell development

“…Testicular macrophages play an integral role in the interstitial tissue of the rat testis and secrete a number of cytokines, some of which are mitogenic to Leydig cells (Gaytan et al, 1994;Hutson, 1994). Impaired macrophage function leads to delayed or absent Leydig cell development, as supported by a model in which macrophages were depleted from the neonatal testis.…”

Bismuth Uptake in Rat Testicular Macrophages: A Follow-up Observation Suggesting that Bismuth Alters Interactions Between Testicular Macrophages and Leydig Cells

“…Because macrophages are found in the testis at a relatively high concentration (Miller et al 1983;Hutson 1990) and have been shown to phagocytose a variety of foreign substances (Wei et al 1988), we were interested in determining if these cells also accumulate bismuth. Because testicular macrophages exert local influences on Leydig cells, accumulation of bismuth in these cells could have functional significance (Hutson 1994(Hutson ,1998. Therefore, our purpose was twofold: first, to develop a procedure combining the autometallographic (AMG) technique for bismuth tracing with the immunohistochemical (IHC) technique for macrophage localization, and, second, to use this technique to determine if bismuth localizes to testicular macrophages in vivo.…”