Altered phosphorylation and distribution status of vimentin in rat seminiferous epithelium following 17β-estradiol treatment.

Vimentin, type III intermediate filament, has stage-specific localization in the Sertoli cell. In the rat, during stages I-V and XI-XIV of the seminiferous epithelium, vimentin is localized in the perinuclear area with filaments projecting into the apical region toward the developing germ cells. These filaments decrease in length at stages VI-VII with perinuclear staining in stages VIII-IX, when spermiation occurs. Our earlier studies following 17β-estradiol treatment to adult male rats demonstrated an increase in germ cell apoptosis, spermiation failure and disruption of Sertoli cell microfilaments and microtubules. The present study was undertaken to determine the stage-specific distribution of vimentin and its involvement in spermiation failure and germ cell apoptosis. Immunofluorescence studies revealed that in contrast to the perinuclear localization with small extensions in control stages VII-IX, long extensions radiating apically to the spermatids in deep recess were observed in the treated group. Immunoprecipitation studies showed marked absence of phosphorylated vimentin in stages VII-VIII in the treated group. Further, localization of plectin, cytoskeletal linker protein, showed decrease in all the stages of spermatogenesis following estradiol treatment. Interestingly, for the first time the localization of plectin in the tubulobulbar complex was observed. In conclusion, the study suggests that estradiol treatment leads to an effect on vimentin phosphorylation, which could have inhibited the disassembly of vimentin leading to retention of apical projection in stages VII-VIII. These effects could be presumably due to a decrease in plectin, affecting the reorganization of vimentin and therefore the apical movement of spermatids, leading to spermiation failure.