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Fetal bovine serum simultaneously stimulates apoptosis and DNA synthesis in premeiotic stages of spermatogenesis in spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) in vitro: modulation by androgen and spermatogenic activity status

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Abstract

Using the simple cystic spermatogenesis in the shark testis as a model, we previously reported the relative resistance of immature spermatogonia (stem cell and early-stage spermatogonia) to apoptosis in the normal testis and after spermatoxicant exposure in vivo. Apoptosis was monitored by fluorescence image analysis of living cysts, using the validated acridine orange (AO) vital staining technique. Findings show that FBS simultaneously stimulates both apoptosis and [3H]thymidine incorporation in immature spermatogonial clones in a concentration-dependent manner in vitro. Furthermore, androgen inhibits apoptosis and increases cyst viability, more so with 10% FBS than with 1% FBS. All the effects were as a function of spermatogenic activity status but were distinct in early-stage spermatogonial cysts isolated from testes awakening from the previous winter spermatogenic arrest period. Results are discussed in the context of the alternating germ–Sertoli cell population kinetics of early-stage spermatogonial cysts in Squalus acanthias’s protracted testicular cycle.

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Acknowledgments

This research was carried out in part at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, ME, USA and Boston University, Boston, MA, USA, and supported in part by a fellowship from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Technical assistance provided by Andy Sexton (Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA); Janet Fields and Vic Nordahl (National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA, USA); and Arnold Howe (Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Cape Cod Bay, MA, USA) in the collection of shark specimens is greatly appreciated. The author also wishes to thank Dr. David Miller (NIEHS) for his advice on fluorescence microscopy and Dr. Gloria Callard (Boston University) for helpful discussions during preparation of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Health and Nursing Science, Narvik University College, P.O. Box 385, Narvik, 8505, Norway

    Leon Mendel McClusky

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McClusky, L.M. Fetal bovine serum simultaneously stimulates apoptosis and DNA synthesis in premeiotic stages of spermatogenesis in spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) in vitro: modulation by androgen and spermatogenic activity status. Apoptosis 13, 649–658 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-008-0205-x

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