Zebrafish primary testis tissue culture: an approach to study testis function ex vivo.

To develop new tools to study the regulation of testis physiology in teleost fish, a medium-term ex vivo organ culture system was adopted for zebrafish testis tissue. The addition of 100nM 11-ketotestosterone to the system supported complete spermatogenesis, as determined by morphological, molecular and immunohistochemical analyses. Under basal conditions, however, the development of differentiated spermatogonia, spermatocytes, and spermatids was seriously disturbed, probably related to the rapid (within 2 days) down-regulation of the steroidogenic system. Forskolin (0.5microM) stimulated acute androgen release from freshly removed tissue and partially prevented down-regulation of the steroidogenic system. The present ex vivo culture system can serve as a tool to evaluate effects of a wide range of substances on the two main functions of the testis, spermatogenesis and hormone production.