Fig. 3

DEX reduces the formation of Leydig cells. Panel a-f: Immunofluorescent staining of tubule section after DEX alone or with RU38486 or RU38486 alone treatment in the LIM for 21 days. Cross sections with CYP17A1 staining (green color, bold arrow) showed the formation of Leydig cells. α-Smooth muscle actin staining (red color, light arrow) showed the myoid cells, which surround the seminiferous tubules. CYP17A1 positive cells were outside the α-smooth muscle actin positive cells, indicating that they were differentiated from the stem Leydig cells on the surface of the tubule. Panel: (a) DEX 0 nM; (b) DEX 10 nM; (c) DEX 100 nM; (d) DEX 100 nM + RU38486 1 μM; (e) RU38486 1 μM; (f) Quantitative data of Leydig cell number per cross section (n = 3). The data were presented as the mean ± SEM. Identical letters showed no significant difference between two groups at P < 0.05