OUTCOME OF DIFFERENT FOLLICLE-STIMULATING HORMONE PREPARATIONS ON CULTURED PRE-PUBERTAL PORCINE SERTOLI CELLS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

At present, there are no “in vitro” studies on the effects of different preparations of folliclestimulating hormone (FSH) on pre-pubertal Sertoli cells, which could provide important information in reproductive medicine. The different preparations of FSH available in the market, obtained both by recombinant technology (α and β follitropin) and post-menopausal urine (urofollitropin), are characterized by structural and functional heterogeneity. The unique testis receptor of FSH (FSH-r) is exclusively localized on Sertoli cells. The aim of our study was to assess the effects of different FSH preparations on ultrapure, viable and functional porcine prepubertal Sertoli cells (pSC) by evaluating modulation of their specific markers. Briefly, pSC culture were treated with: (a) α-follitropin, β-follitropin or urofollitropin at the same molar concentration (100 nM) for 48 hours; (b) testosterone (T): 0.2 mg/ml and (c) combinations of each different FSH preparations with T. In our model we have observed that: (a) all three different FSH preparations induced, as expected physiologically, a reduction of AMH (in terms of mRNA and secreted protein) with an increase of inhibin B in terms of mRNA; meanwhile only α-follitropin induced an increase of inhibin B secreted in the culture medium. All three preparations induced, as expected, a reduction of FSH-r mRNA. Finally, regarding measuring constitutive pERK and pAKT activity by Western blotting, meanwhile pERK was up-regulated by all three FSH preparations, pAKT was down-regulated by only α-follitropin. These results preliminarily showed, that the three FSH preparations were associated with different effects in terms of inhibin B secretion, posing the question if is better to use FSH preparations that increase inhibin B secretion (with a potential down-regulation of endogenous FSH) or those that do not induce this increase. Our “in vitro” model of pSC, could help better understand the effects of different FSH preparations, providing important information on both the conflictual findings with regard to use of FSH in oligozoospermic males and, in general, reproductive medicine.