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Fig. 2 | Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

Fig. 2

From: Defects of microtubule cytoskeletal organization in NOA human testes

Fig. 2

Defects in microtubule cytoskeletal organization in NOA versus normal human testes. A Microtubules (MTs) (red fluorescence, visualized by an antibody specific to α-tubulin, see Table S3), which together with ß-tubulin create the α-/ß-tubulin oligomers to serve as the building blocks of MTs. MTs appeared as track-like structures that laid perpendicular to the basement membrane (annotated by dashed white line at the base of the seminiferous epithelium as noted in normal human testes) and stretched across the entire seminiferous epithelium. Cell nuclei were visualized by DAPI (4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) staining. In NOA testes, the distinctive tracks conferred by MT no longer discernible across the epithelium but considerably truncated and appeared as collapsed structures in NOA testes. As noted on the left panel where the selected tubules in low magnification were encircled in yellow, considerable reduction in tubule diameter was noted in SCO and MA testes of NOA patients compared to normal testes. Scale bar, 400 µm in the micrographs on the left panel in low magnification; 80 µm in the second panel which applies to the third panel; 40 µm in the fourth panel. B Changes in the seminiferous tubule diameter in randomly selected tubules from n = 3 men (mean ± SD) with each dot represents a tubule in normal testes (green circle) vs. and NOA, containing MA (meiotic arrest) and SCO (Sertoli cell only), human testes. C Negative (-v) control testes where primary anti-α-tubulin antibody was substituted by normal rabbit IgG and no notable red fluorescence was detected, illustrating the staining for α-tubulin noted in (A) was specific for MTs. Micrographs shown here were representative findings of an experiment from n = 3 independent experiments of testes from 3 men per group which yielded similar results

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