Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) modulates Leydig cell extracellular matrix components.

J Androl

Department of Histology and Medical Embryology, School of Medicine, University of Rome Sapienza, Rome, Italy.

Published: October 2010

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a pleiotropic factor that plays multiple roles during mammalian development. We previously demonstrated that in the postnatal testes, the HGF receptor, c-met, is expressed by Leydig cells and HGF increases the steroidogenetic activity of the cells. In the present article, we report that HGF modifies the composition of the extracellular matrix of cultured Leydig cells. We show that HGF increases the metabolic activity of isolated Leydig cells; in particular, the factor increases urokinase plasminogen activator and matrix metalloproteinase 2 secretion. We have also shown that the levels of active transforming growth factor beta are increased by HGF. On the contrary, using the Western blotting technique, a strong reduction in the amount of fibronectin present in the culture medium of cells cultured in the presence of HGF has been detected. The presented data demonstrate that HGF modulates several functional activities of Leydig cells, further supporting the hypothesis that this factor has a relevant role in the regulation of mammalian spermatogenesis.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.2164/jandrol.109.007658DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

leydig cells
16
growth factor
12
hgf
9
hepatocyte growth
8
factor hgf
8
hgf modulates
8
extracellular matrix
8
cells hgf
8
hgf increases
8
factor
6

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!