Leydig Cells in Spermatogenesis-Deficient Testes Experience Stress, but Proliferate to Enhance Testosterone Synthesis I

We investigated somatic cell dynamics in testicular tissue lacking spermatogenesis using model mice with testis-specific deletion of the histone H3 variant gene H3t. Leydig cells in testes lacking spermatogenesis led to increased testosterone synthesis that occurred alongside a high inflammatory response and oxidative stress. Overall design: We generated H3t deletion mice that were used for testis section transcriptomics and spatial transcriptomics analyses of Leydig cells in testes with disruption of spermatogenesis.