Seminiferous tubule molecular imaging for evaluation of male fertility: Seeing is believing

Chencheng Yao; Liangyu Zhao; Ruhui Tian; Peng Li; Zijue Zhu; Yunjing Xue; Huixing Chen; Yuehua Gong; Nachuan Liu; Chao Yang; Zuping He; Zheng Li

doi:10.1016/j.tice.2019.04.003

Seminiferous tubule molecular imaging for evaluation of male fertility: Seeing is believing

Tissue Cell. 2019 Jun:58:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.tice.2019.04.003. Epub 2019 Apr 6.

Authors

Chencheng Yao¹, Liangyu Zhao¹, Ruhui Tian¹, Peng Li¹, Zijue Zhu¹, Yunjing Xue¹, Huixing Chen¹, Yuehua Gong¹, Nachuan Liu¹, Chao Yang¹, Zuping He², Zheng Li³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Andrology, Center for Men's Health, Department of ART, Institute of Urology, Urologic Medical Center, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, China.
² School of Medicine, Hunan Normal University, 371 Tongzipo Road, Changsha, Hunan 410013, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China. Electronic address: zupinghe@sjtu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Andrology, Center for Men's Health, Department of ART, Institute of Urology, Urologic Medical Center, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China. Electronic address: lizhengboshi@163.com.

PMID: 31133243
DOI: 10.1016/j.tice.2019.04.003

Abstract

The proper assessment of male fertility is essential for diagnosing and treating male infertility. Currently, spermiogram and Johnsen testicular biopsy score counts are used to assess male fertility. However, spermiogram is not a suitable option for non-obstructive azoospermia patients, and Johnsen testicular biopsy scores only represent localized and not the overall spermatogenesis. Whole-mount staining was a novel method for evaluating protein expression in the tissue. Thus, we explored its application in human seminiferous tubules. Testicular biopsies from 57 azoospermia patients were categorized as obstructive azoospermia (OA), maturation arrest (MA) and Sertoli-cells only syndrome (SCOS). We performed whole-mount staining of their seminiferous tubules and evaluated the spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), differentiated spermatogonia (SG), spermatocytes (SPC) and spermatids (SD) with their respective markers (GFRA1, CD117, SYCP3, and PNA) to assess fertility. GFRA1, CD117, SYCP3, and PNA were not expressed in SCOS patients, whereas all of them were detected in OA patients. In MA patients with arrested spermatogenesis at the SPC stage, GFRA1, CD117, and SYCP3, but not PNA were expressed in the seminiferous tubules. In MA patients with arrested spermatogenesis at the spermatogonia stage, only GFRA1 was expressed in the seminiferous tubules. These results were consistent with the Johnsen testicular biopsy score counts except for one patient, where although only Sertoli cells were indicated by the score, SSCs were also detected in the whole-mounts. Collectively, whole-mount staining could be used to analyze the inherent spermatogenesis of seminiferous tubules through staining of germ cells at different stages. It offers a more accurate and promising faster method for assessing male fertility compared with traditional biopsy screening. And it could have potential value for the clinical purpose for male fertility management.

Keywords: Male fertility assessment; Male infertility; Seminiferous tubule; Whole-mount staining.

Publication types

Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

Adult
Azoospermia / congenital*
Azoospermia / diagnostic imaging
Azoospermia / metabolism
Fertility*
Humans
Male
Molecular Imaging*
Seminiferous Tubules* / diagnostic imaging
Seminiferous Tubules* / metabolism
Spermatogenesis*
Spermatogonia* / metabolism
Spermatogonia* / pathology

Supplementary concepts

Arrest of spermatogenesis