PHAR 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Leydig Cell, Pronucleus, Spermatogenesis
18 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Need to grow a tail to swim, no cytoplasm, repackage nuclear material, develop. Protamines bind to dna and allow tight compaction of chromatin. Nucleus becomes compacted to 1/6 of space. Epididymis: a piece of tissue sitting next to testis: testis makes sperm and steroids. Leydig cells in testis make testosterone which gets circulated to feed entire body. When sperm leaves testis, they look like normal cells. Not useful because it cannot swim and recognize egg. It acquires its function when sperm passes through epididymis. Male mediated developmental toxicity: if a chemical affects germ cells, chromatin may be damaged, gene expression altered, when chromatin damaged there will be a response in the germ cell (3 ways) If chromatin damaged, ability of sperm to fertilize egg is not effective. Need to develop new tests to understand how chromatin damaged. Yes, in zygote, female pronucleus reacts in some ways. Do not understand how they talk to each other yet: ex.
