Drug transporters and blood--testis barrier function

The blood--testis barrier (BTB) creates an immunological barrier that segregates the seminiferous epithelium into the basal and apical compartment. Thus, meiosis I/II and post-meiotic germ cell development take place in a specialized microenvironment in the apical compartment behind the BTB and these events are being shielded from the host immune system. If unwanted drugs and/or chemicals enter the apical compartment from the microvessels in the interstitium via the basal compartment, efflux pumps (e.g. P-glycoprotein) located in Sertoli cells and/or spermatids can actively transport these molecules out of the apical compartment. However, the mechanism(s) by which influx pumps regulate the entry of drugs/chemicals into the apical compartment is not known. In this study, a solute carrier (SLC) transporter organic anion transporting polypeptide 3 (Oatp3, Slco1a5) was shown to be an integrated component of the N-cadherin-based adhesion complex at the BTB. However, a knockdown of Oatp3 alone or in combination with three other major Sertoli cell drug influx pumps, namely Slc22a5, Slco6b1, and Slco6c1, by RNAi using corresponding specific siRNA duplexes failed to perturb the Sertoli cell tight junction (TJ) permeability barrier function. Yet, the transport of [(3)H]adjudin, a potential male contraceptive that is considered a toxicant to spermatogenesis, across the BTB was impeded following the knockdown of either Oatp3 or all the four SLC transporters. In short, even though drug transporters (e.g. influx pumps) are integrated components of the adhesion protein complexes at the BTB, they are not involved in regulating the Sertoli cell TJ permeability barrier function, instead they are only involved in the transport of drugs, such as adjudin, across the immunological barrier at the BTB.