Abstract
Inhibin A and B are heterodimers made up of an α-subunit combined with a βA- or βB-subunit. Inhibin is secreted by testicular Sertoli cells in the male and causes a decrease in FSH secretion from the pituitary (reviewed in 1–4). Activin A and B are homodimers of the βA- or βB-subunits, respectively. Activin has been shown to increase FSH secretion from pituitary cultures in vitro (5) and to increase circulating FSH levels in vivo in adult macaques (6) and rats (7). More recently, it has been demonstrated that testicular Leydig cells produce activin (8). Messenger RNA and protein subunits of the α- and β-chains have been localized in multiple cell types in the testis of rats of various ages (9–12); however, these data cannot differentiate between inhibin and activin production if both α- and β-subunits are present. These data led us, and others, to suggest that inhibin and activin act as paracrine and/or autocrine regulators of gonadal function and may play a role in regulating Sertoli-Leydig cell interaction or Sertoli-germ cell interaction (8–18).
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© 1994 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
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Mather, J.P., Roberts, P.E., Krummen, L.A. (1994). Regulation of Germ Cell Proliferation In Vitro by Activins, Follistatin, and Other Growth Factors. In: Bartke, A. (eds) Function of Somatic Cells in the Testis. Serono Symposia, USA. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2638-3_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2638-3_14
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