ArticleThe Journal of cell biology2004
Progenitor cells of the testosterone-producing Leydig cells revealed.
Article in The Journal of cell biology, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 111 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
111 citing papers in PubMed, 256 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcriptomic Profiling of Canine Testicular Leydig Cell Tumors Uncovers Key Upregulated Gene Pathways.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Platelet-derived growth factor signaling in porcine testicular tubular somatic cells.Cell and tissue research · 2025Article
- NEDD4 Promotes Sertoli Cell Proliferation and Adult Leydig Cell Differentiation in the Murine Testis.Endocrinology · 2025Article
- Efficient differentiation of human iPSCs into Leydig-like cells capable of long-term stable secretion of testosterone.Stem cell reports · 2025Article
- Testicular sex cord-stromal tumors in mice with constitutive activation of PI3K and loss of Pten.Carcinogenesis · 2025Article
- A New Leydig Cell-Exclusive Cre Line Allows Lineage Tracing of Fetal and Adult Leydig Cell Populations in the Mouse.Endocrinology · 2025Article
- Age-related testosterone decline: mechanisms and intervention strategies.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2024Review
- Distribution, contribution and regulation of nestinJournal of advanced research · 2024Review
- In vitro effects of uncarboxylated osteocalcin on buffalo Leydig cell steroidogenesis.Veterinary research communications · 2024Article
- Effects of Leydig cell elimination on testicular interstitial cell populations: characterization by scRNA-seq and immunocytochemical techniques.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- The role of HIF-1α-mediated autophagy in ionizing radiation-induced testicular injury.Journal of molecular histology · 2023Article
- Mitochondrial defects caused by PARL deficiency lead to arrested spermatogenesis and ferroptosis.eLife · 2023Article
- Mesenchymal "stem" cells, or facilitators for the development of regenerative macrophages? Pericytes at the interface of wound healing.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Review
- Effects of aging and macrophages on mice stem Leydig cell proliferation and differentiationFrontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Bone morphogenetic protein 4 inhibits rat stem/progenitor Leydig cell development and regeneration via SMAD-dependent and SMAD-independent signaling.Cell death & disease · 2022Article
- Perivascular cells support folliculogenesis in the developing ovary.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Behavior and Functional Roles of CD34International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Immune and vascular contributions to organogenesis of the testis and ovary.The FEBS journal · 2022Review
- The Fate of Leydig Cells in Men with Spermatogenic Failure.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Effects of Cadmium Exposure on Leydig Cells and Blood Vessels in Mouse Testis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
51 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The cells responsible for production of the male sex hormone testosterone, the Leydig cells of the testis, are post-mitotic cells with neuroendocrine characteristics. Their origin during ontogeny and regeneration processes is still a matter of debate. Here, we show that cells of testicular blood vessels, namely vascular smooth muscle cells and pericytes, are the progenitors of Leydig cells. Resembling stem cells of the nervous system, the Leydig cell progenitors are characterized by the expression of nestin. Using an in vivo model to induce and monitor the synchronized generation of a completely new Leydig cell population in adult rats, we demonstrate specific proliferation of vascular progenitors and their subsequent transdifferentiation into steroidogenic Leydig cells which, in addition, rapidly acquire neuronal and glial properties. These findings, shown to be representative also for ontogenetic Leydig cell formation and for the human testis, provide further evidence that cellular components of blood vessels can act as progenitor cells for organogenesis and repair.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.