Transcriptomic analysis of MA-10 Leydig cells treated with adipose derived hormones adiponectin and resistin

Obesity contributes to a decrease in testosterone production in men. Indeed, adipose tissue produces several hormones, including adiponectin and resistin, may influence the activity of signalling pathways responsible for regulating the expression of genes related to steroidogenesis. In this study, we wanted to identify which genes are directly regulated by these hormones in Leydig cells. To do this, we treated MA-10 Leydig cells with adiponectin or resistin, followed by RNA extraction and RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis. Interestingly, genes upregulated by the globular form of adiponectin (gACRP30) were enriched for steroid hormones biosynthetic process, whereas resistin had no effect on the transcriptome of MA-10 Leydig cells. Although expression of the Star gene, encoding the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, was increased in response to the adenylate cyclase activator forskolin, neither adiponectin nor resistin had any effect on such stimulation. Hence, adiponectin and resistin had no effect on testosterone production from MA-10 Leydig cells under the treatment conditions investigated. Thus, our data suggest that a direct regulation of steroidogenic genes' expressions in Leydig cells may not be involved in the inhibition of testosterone production by adipose tissue derived hormones.