Transcription profiling of mouse testes from three strains, AKR/N, C57BL/6 and MRL/MpJ+/+

Cryptorchidism and scrotal heating result in abnormal spermatogenesis but the mechanism(s) proscribing this temperature sensitivity are unknown. It was previously reported that the AKR/N or MRL/MpJ-+/+ mouse testis is more heat resistant than the testis from the C57BL/6 strain. We have attempted to probe into the mechanism(s) involved in heat sensitivity by examining global gene expression profiles of normal and heat-treated testes from C57BL/6, AKR/N and MRL/MpJ-+/+ mice by microarray analysis. In the normal C57BL/6 testis, 415 and 416 transcripts were differentially expressed (at least two-fold higher or lower) when compared to the normal AKR/N and MRL/MpJ-+/+ testis, respectively. The AKR/N and MRL/MpJ-+/+ strains revealed 268 differentially expressed transcripts between them. There were 231 transcripts differentially expressed between C57BL/6 and two purported heat-resistant strains, AKR/N and MRL/MpJ-+/+. Experiment Overall Design: Total RNA of testes from 3 different strains of mice, C57BL/6, AKR/N and MRL/MpJ-+/+, were analyzed using microarray 430.20 chip. All mice were 8 weeks old, 2 mice/strain.隐睾症与阴囊热暴露均可引发精子发生异常，但调控该温度敏感性的具体机制仍未阐明。此前已有研究表明，AKR/N或MRL/MpJ-+/+小鼠的睾丸相较于C57BL/6品系小鼠的睾丸，具有更强的热耐受性。本研究通过基因芯片分析（microarray analysis），对C57BL/6、AKR/N及MRL/MpJ-+/+三种品系小鼠的正常睾丸与热暴露处理后的睾丸进行全基因表达谱检测，以探究热敏感性相关的调控机制。相较于正常AKR/N及MRL/MpJ-+/+小鼠的睾丸，正常C57BL/6小鼠睾丸中分别有415和416个转录本（transcripts）出现至少2倍的表达上调或下调差异。AKR/N与MRL/MpJ-+/+两个品系之间则存在268个差异表达转录本。C57BL/6与两个公认的热耐受品系AKR/N、MRL/MpJ-+/+之间，共存在231个差异表达转录本。实验整体设计：本研究使用基因芯片430.20（microarray 430.20），对C57BL/6、AKR/N及MRL/MpJ-+/+三种小鼠品系的睾丸总RNA进行检测。所有受试小鼠均为8周龄，每个品系使用2只小鼠。