Novel androgen-induced activity of an antimicrobial β-defensin: Regulation of Wolffian duct morphogenesis

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Ribeiro, CM
Ferreira, LGA
Thimoteo, DS
Smith, LB
Hinton, BT
Avellar, MCW
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2017
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Abstract

The Wolffian duct (WD) undergoes morphological changes induced by androgens to form the epididymis, which is an organ essential for sperm maturation. Androgen action in WD epithelium involves paracrine factors of mesenchymal origin that function by still poorly understood mechanisms. Here we studied the antimicrobial β-defensin SPAG11C as a new player in duct morphogenesis, localized prenatally in the WD mesenchyme. Organotypic culture of rat WDs and tissues from Androgen Receptor (AR) knockout mice (ARKO) were used. Our results show that androgen/AR signaling differentially regulated SPAG11C expression at mRNA and protein levels in the developing WD. WDs incubated with recombinant human SPAG11C were shorter and less coiled as a result of reduced epithelial cell proliferation, but not increased apoptosis. Our results suggested β-defensin SPAG11C as an androgen-target required for WD morphogenesis. This highlights the multifunctional repertoire of the β-defensin protein family and their potential contribution to the in utero environment that determines male reproductive success.

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Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology

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442

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© 2017 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.

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Biological sciences

Androgen

Epididymis

Innate immunity

Male infertility

Wolffian duct

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Ribeiro, CM; Ferreira, LGA; Thimoteo, DS; Smith, LB; Hinton, BT; Avellar, MCW, Novel androgen-induced activity of an antimicrobial β-defensin: Regulation of Wolffian duct morphogenesis, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 2017, 442, pp. 142-152

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