The microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton in Sertoli cells, a crucial cellular structure in the seminiferous epithelium of adult mammalian testes that supports spermatogenesis, was studied morphologically decades ago. However, its biology, in particular the involving regulatory biomolecules and the underlying mechanism(s) in modulating MT dynamics, are only beginning to be revealed in recent years. This lack of studies in delineating the biology of MT cytoskeletal dynamics undermines other studies in the field, in particular the plausible therapeutic treatment and management of male infertility and fertility since studies have shown that the MT cytoskeleton is one of the prime targets of toxicants. Interestingly, much of the information regarding the function of actin-, MT- and intermediate filament-based cytoskeletons come from studies using toxicant models including some genetic models. During the past several years, there have been some advances in studying the biology of MT cytoskeleton in the testis, and many of these studies were based on the use of pharmaceutical/toxicant models. In this review, we summarize the results of these findings, illustrating the importance of toxicant/pharmaceutical models in unravelling the biology of MT dynamics, in particular the role of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), a family of regulatory proteins that modulate MT dynamics but also actin- and intermediate filament-based cytoskeletons. We also provide a timely hypothetical model which can serve as a guide to design functional experiments to study how the MT cytoskeleton is regulated during spermatogenesis through the use of toxicants and/or pharmaceutical agents.

中文翻译：

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微管细胞骨架动力学和精子发生中的微管相关蛋白 (MAP)。

Sertoli 细胞中的微管 (MT) 细胞骨架是成年哺乳动物睾丸生精上皮中支持精子发生的关键细胞结构，几十年前在形态学上进行了研究。然而，它的生物学，特别是涉及调节生物分子和调节 MT 动力学的潜在机制，近年来才开始被揭示。由于研究表明 MT 细胞骨架是毒物的主要目标之一，因此缺乏描绘 MT 细胞骨架动力学生物学的研究破坏了该领域的其他研究，特别是男性不育和生育的合理治疗和管理。有趣的是，很多关于肌动蛋白功能的信息，基于 MT 和中间丝的细胞骨架来自使用毒物模型（包括一些遗传模型）的研究。在过去的几年中，睾丸 MT 细胞骨架的生物学研究取得了一些进展，其中许多研究都是基于药物/毒物模型的使用。在这篇综述中，我们总结了这些发现的结果，说明了毒物/药物模型在揭示 MT 动力学生物学方面的重要性，尤其是微管相关蛋白 (MAP) 的作用，微管相关蛋白 (MAP) 是调节 MT 动力学的调节蛋白家族还有基于肌动蛋白和中间丝的细胞骨架。