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Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Isolation of Sertoli Cells and Peritubular Cells from Rat Testes
Published on: February 8, 2016
Evaluation of the Purity of Sertoli Cell Primary Cultures
Raquel L Bernardino1, Marco G Alves1, Pedro F Oliveira2,3,4,5
1Unit for Multidisciplinary Research in Biomedicine (UMIB), Laboratory of Cell Biology, Department of Microscopy, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Abstract:
The purity of the primary cultures of Sertoli cells is a factor for the validation of the studies using this methodological approach. There is a probability of contamination of these cultures with other testicular cellular types, such as peritubular cells and germ cells (that represent a large percentage of the volume of the seminiferous tubules).For the evaluation of the purity of cultures, the immunocytochemistry technique (immunoperoxidase or immunofluorescence) is frequently used to label a protein marker specific for the Sertoli cells within the testicular environment. The expression of several protein markers can be used, with different particularities, being that vimentin is often used as a marker for Sertoli cells. Vimentin is expressed independently of the differentiation state of the cells and is observed around the nuclei and in the cytoplasm of Sertoli cells.
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