Cell-cell interactions in the local control of seminiferous tubule contractility

Since peritubular smooth muscle cells (PSMCs) have been characterized, isolated and cultured in homogeneous populations, the regulation of seminiferous epithelium contractility has received increasing attention. The present article reports and discusses experimental evidence demonstrating that: (1) PSMCs express two types of high affinity receptors for endothelin (ET-A and ET-B), both responsible for calcium-mediated cell contraction, but coupled to partially different transduction pathways; (2) the production of endothelin by seminiferous epithelium follows a finely regulated spatial and temporal pattern, which is based on the cyclic expression of endothelin-converting-enzyme in Sertoli cells; and (3) a further local factor, PDGF-BB, is capable of stimulating PSMC contraction when acutely administered and induces cell hypertrophy and potentiation of contractile phenotype when chronically administered, in the absence of any proliferative response. The study of the mechanisms through which PSMC contractile activity and differentiated state is locally controlled may be of potential relevance to our knowledge of how the efficiency of tubular output is regulated in normal and pathological conditions.