Stimulation of spermatogonial differentiation in juvenile spermatogonial depletion (jsd) mutant mice by gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist treatment

Male juvenile spermatogonial depletion (jsd) mutant mice are sterile because of spermatogenic failure and so may provide a model for genetically caused human male infertility. To test the effects of testosterone suppression therapy on spermatogenesis in jsd/jsd mice, we treated them with Nal-Glu, a GnRH antagonist. Treatment with Nal-Glu at 2500 μg/kg/day was started at 5.5 or 8 weeks of age and continued for 4 or 8 weeks. Differentiation of spermatogonia was evaluated by the percentage of tubules containing two or more spermatocytes (% of differentiating tubules). Nal-Glu treatment caused a marked decrease in the weights of the testes and seminal vesicles and intratesticular testosterone concentrations. However, in contrast to a value of 1.3% in untreated jsd/jsd mice, the mean % of differentiating tubules was 59.9% and 25.1% in treatment groups started at 5.5 and 8 weeks of age, respectively. We propose that spermatogonial differentiation in jsd/jsd mutant mice is sensitive to the high intratesticular levels of testosterone and can only proceed when testosterone production is suppressed.