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Suzanne E. Wahrle, Hong Jiang, Maia Parsadanian, Jungsu Kim, Aimin Li, Amanda Knoten, Sanjay Jain, Veronica Hirsch-Reinshagen, Cheryl L. Wellington, Kelly R. Bales, Steven M. Paul, David M. Holtzman
Published in Volume 118, Issue 2
J Clin Invest. 2008; 118(2):671–682 doi:10.1172/JCI33622
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Figure 2
Spermatogenesis defects in 3-month-old PrP-mAbca1 line E Tg mice.

(A) Testes from PrP-mAbca1 line E mice (n = 5) and non-Tg mice (n = 6) were dissected and weighed. (B) A representative testis from a Tg mouse and a non-Tg mouse. Scale bar: 5 mm. (C) H&E-stained sections show normal testicular histology in non-Tg mice (top left panel) and marked degeneration of seminiferous tubules of Tg mice (top right panel), with several multinucleated giant cells (arrowheads) present in almost every tubule compared with their rare occurrence in non-Tg mice. No elongated spermatids were present in testes from Tg mice. TUNEL staining shows occasional apoptotic cells in testes from non-Tg mice (bottom left panel) and frequent apoptotic cells in testes from Tg mice (bottom right panel). Scale bar: 50 μm for the top panels and 100 μm for the bottom panels. (D) Quantification of TUNEL staining in the testes of Tg (n = 4) and non-Tg littermate control mice (n = 4). (E) Sections of testes from Tg (n = 3) and non-Tg littermate control mice (n = 4) underwent immunohistochemical staining with an anti-GCNA1 antibody that stains germ cells. The number of GCNA1-positive cells per tubule was tabulated. Statistical analyses of differences between Tg and non-Tg mice were performed using 2-tailed Student’s t test. **P < 0.01; ****P < 0.0001.