Inhibition of testicular germ cell apoptosis and differentiation in mice misexpressing Bcl-2 in spermatogonia

During normal spermatogenesis, more than half of the germ cells undergo apoptosis, but the physiological significance and molecular mechanisms of this programmed cell death are largely unknown. Because Bcl-2 functions as a death repressor, we have investigated the effect of misexpressing Bcl-2 in spermatogonia in transgenic mice using the human bcl-2 cDNA under the control of the human polypeptide chain elongation factor 1α (EF-1α) promoter. In the 2-week-old transgenic testes, exogenous Bcl-2 was expressed in spermatogonia and massive accumulation of spermatogonia was observed in seminiferous tubules by 4 weeks. At this time, only a few spermatocytes were apparent, and the accumulated cells degenerated, leading to vacuolization in some seminiferous tubules by 7 weeks. In older transgenic mice, abnormal accumulation of spermatogonia and degeneration of these germ cells was still observed, but some seminiferous tubules in which the level of Bcl-2 expression was reduced recovered normal spermatogenesis. These observations indicate that spermatogonial apoptosis is part of the normal program of mammalian spermatogenesis and is regulated by a pathway affected by Bcl-2.