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Expression pattern of estrogen receptors α and β and G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 in the human testis

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Abstract

Estrogen signaling is considered to play an important role in spermatogenesis, spermiogenesis and male fertility. Estrogens can act via the two nuclear estrogen receptors ESR1 (ERα) and ESR2 (ERβ) or via the intracellular G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER, formerly GPR30). Several reports on the localization and expression of all three receptors in the human testis have been published but are controversial particularly in case of ERα. Contrary to previous studies, we decided therefore to evaluate expression of all three receptors in the testis by a number of different methods and in comparison with MCF-7 cells. Using qPCR, we could show that mRNA expression of ERα is considerably lower and expression of ERβ and GPER much higher in the testis than in MCF-7 cells. RT-PCR after laser-assisted microdissection of tubular and interstitial compartments from normal and Sertoli cell only syndrome testes plus in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analyses of the same samples demonstrated that there is very low expression of ERα in germ cells and in single interstitial cells, very high expression of ERβ in germ cells and Sertoli cells and high expression of GPER in interstitial cells and less in Sertoli cells.

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Acknowledgments

The skillful technical assistance of J. Dern-Wieloch, S. Fröhlich, A. Hax, A. Hild, S. Schubert-Porth, J. Vogelsberg and R. Weigel is gratefully acknowledged. MCF-7 cells were provided by Uta Bauer, Marburg, and T47D cells by Lutz Konrad, Giessen. Expression constructs pSG hER-α66 and pSG hER-α46 were kindly provided by Gilles Flouriot (University of Rennes, France) and the chicken ERβ 503 antibody by Margaret Warner (University of Houston, Texas, USA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Daniela Fietz, Clara Ratzenböck, Katja Hartmann, Oksana Raabe & Martin Bergmann

  2. Center of Andrology and Reproductive Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Sabine Kliesch

  3. Clinic for Urology, Pediatric Urology and Andrology, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Wolfgang Weidner

  4. Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Giessen, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Jörg Klug

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  1. Daniela Fietz
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  2. Clara Ratzenböck
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  3. Katja Hartmann
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  4. Oksana Raabe
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  5. Sabine Kliesch
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  7. Jörg Klug
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Correspondence to Jörg Klug.

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Daniela Fietz, Clara Ratzenböck, Jörg Klug and Martin Bergmann have contributed equally in this work.

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Fietz, D., Ratzenböck, C., Hartmann, K. et al. Expression pattern of estrogen receptors α and β and G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 in the human testis. Histochem Cell Biol 142, 421–432 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-014-1216-z

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