Hormonal regulation of proteins secreted by cultured pig Sertoli cells: characterization by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Using a primary culture of immature porcine Sertoli cells, we studied the effect of porcine FSH (pFSH), testosterone and retinoic acid on the labelled secreted protein. Cells were cultured in a chemically defined medium for 3 days and, on day 3, they were incubated for different times in another medium containing labelled amino acids either in the presence or absence of pFSH (50 ng/ml or 2 micrograms/ml), or testosterone (10(-6) M), or retinoic acid (10(-7) M), either alone or in several combinations. After 4 and 8 h of incubation, 20 and 30 secreted peptides were detected respectively by a two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the radiolabelled secreted proteins. During these 2 periods, the effect of pFSH was negligible. After 25 h, about 84 spots (pI in the range of 5-8) were identified on the autoradiograms. pFSH (2 micrograms/ml) induced an increase of 14 spots, and a decrease of 7, but at 50 ng/ml only 5 spots were increased and one decreased. Retinoic acid alone induced the increase of one peptide, while testosterone alone or in combination with pFSH (50 ng/ml) did not modify the electrophoretic pattern. When pig Sertoli cells were treated with retinoic acid, testosterone and pFSH (50 ng/ml), the effects on secreted proteins were higher than those induced by pFSH (50 ng/ml) alone.