Analysis of the intratesticular control of spermatogenesis by ex-vivo approaching

Spermatogenesis involves the realization of a particular genetic program which requires a specific environment ("niche"). Multiplication, differentiation and apoptosis of male germ cells are finely regulated by pituitary hormones (mainly LH and FSH), and by a complex network of factors originating from both the somatic cells and the germ cells of the testis. It is becoming clear that hormones and intra-testicular regulatory factors can compensate, at least in part, for the absence of some hormones or factors including FSH and LH or androgen receptors. Since, most of the growth factors, cytokines and neurotrophins produced within the testis are widely expressed in the organism, the attempts to understand their role in spermatogenesis by "classical" knock-out strategies have been often disappointing. Therefore an important aspect of our previous work was to settle and characterize carefully two systems of cocultures of testicular germ cells with somatic cells in bicameral chambers. For instance, we showed for the first time that the whole meiotic step could be performed in vitro in a mammalian species (the rat). Moreover, all our data indicate that our co-culture systems enable to highlight mechanisms pertinent to the physiological processes. Sperm parameters have been deteriorated considerably during the past 4-5 decades. There is now evidence that chemical exposure is at least partly responsible for these testicular diseases. If a large number of environmental pollutants are able to affect male fertility and to exert carcinogenic effects, their cellular and molecular mechanisms are still unidentified. The cultures in bicameral chambers that we settled can be used to study the effects of a toxicant when added in the basal compartment of the culture chamber, which appears relevant to the in vivo situation. Taken together our results indicate that our in vitro culture systems, which allow screening for the effect of biological activity of different physiological factors, can be also helpful to study that of any chemicals on both survival and multiplication/differentiation of somatic and/or spermatogenic cells on a relatively long time period.