Crucial roles of the mesenchymal androgen receptor in Wolffian duct development

Wolffian duct maintenance and differentiation is predominantly driven by the androgen action, which is mediated by the androgen receptor (AR). It is well established that the mesenchyme indicates the fate and differentiation of epithelial cells. However, in vivo developmental requirement of mesenchymal AR in Wolffian duct development is still undefined. By designing a mesenchyme-specific Ar knockout (ARcKO), we discovered that the loss of mesenchymal Ar led to the bilateral or unilateral degeneration of caudal Wolffian ducts and cystic formation at the cranial Wolffian ducts. Ex vivo culture of ARcKO Wolffian ducts invariably resulted in bilateral defects, suggesting that some factor(s) originating from surrounding tissues in vivo might promote Wolffian duct survival and growth even in the absence of mesenchymal Ar. Mechanistically, we found cell proliferation was significantly reduced in both epithelial and mesenchymal compartments; but cell apoptosis was not affected. Transcriptomic a..., , , # Crucial roles of the mesenchymal androgen receptor in Wolffian duct development Give a brief summary of dataset contents, contextualized in experimental procedures and results. ## Description of the data and file structure **Supplementary figure 1. Coiling of the contralateral epididymis was decreased in ARcKO male embryos with the unilateral cystic epididymis**. (A) Brightfield images of PND0 epididymides of the control and ARcKO groups. Regions outlined by dashed lines were enlarged for illustrating measurement of the number of turns. (B) Quantification of the average number of turns per 1 mm. Results were shown as mean ± SD and analyzed by two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test. N=5 for control group, N=4 for ARcKO group. **Supplementary figure 2. Immunohistochemical staining of AR in PND0 epididymides from control, unaffected side of ARcKO, and affected side of ARcKO embryos.** **Supplementary figure 3. Characterization of Osr2Cre+; Rosa26tdTomato+.** (A) Whole mount immunofl...沃尔夫管（Wolffian duct）的维持与分化主要由雄激素作用驱动，该作用由雄激素受体（androgen receptor, AR）介导。已有研究证实，间充质可决定上皮细胞的命运与分化方向。然而，体内间充质AR在沃尔夫管发育中的功能需求仍未明确。本研究通过构建间充质特异性Ar敲除（ARcKO）小鼠模型，发现间充质Ar的缺失会导致尾部沃尔夫管出现双侧或单侧退化，并在头部沃尔夫管形成囊性结构。对ARcKO小鼠的沃尔夫管进行体外培养时，均出现双侧发育缺陷，这提示体内周围组织可分泌某些因子，在间充质Ar缺失的情况下仍能促进沃尔夫管的存活与生长。机制层面研究显示，上皮与间充质区域的细胞增殖均显著降低，但细胞凋亡未受明显影响。转录组学分析[原文截断为Transcriptomic a...]……# 间充质雄激素受体在沃尔夫管发育中的关键作用 本研究将结合实验流程与研究结果，对该数据集的内容进行简要总结。 ## 数据与文件结构说明 **补充图1. 单侧囊性附睾的ARcKO雄性胚胎中，对侧附睾卷曲程度降低**。(A) 出生后第0天（PND0）对照组与ARcKO组小鼠附睾的明场成像图。虚线标注区域经放大以展示卷曲圈数的测量方式。(B) 每1mm平均卷曲圈数的定量分析结果，以均值±标准差（mean ± SD）呈现，采用双侧未配对Student t检验进行统计学分析。对照组样本量N=5，ARcKO组样本量N=4。 **补充图2. 对照组、ARcKO胚胎未受累侧与受累侧附睾的AR免疫组化染色结果**。 **补充图3. Osr2Cre+; Rosa26tdTomato+小鼠的特征鉴定**。(A) 全mount免疫荧光染色[原文截断为immunofl...]……