ArticleThe Journal of cell biology2018
Autophagy regulates testosterone synthesis by facilitating cholesterol uptake in Leydig cells.
Article in The Journal of cell biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
108 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 202 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)Autophagy · 2021Guideline
- Unveiling the Mechanisms of Ozone-Induced Male Reproductive Toxicity: Insights from Testicular Proteomics and CTD Database.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Exosomes Ameliorate Sperm-related Abnormalities, Hormonal Imbalance, and Disrupted Testicular Autophagy in A Diet-Induced Murine Model for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2026Article
- Black Phosphorus Nanosheets Penetrate the Blood-Testis Barrier and Induce Reproductive Toxicity in Male Mice.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- C2orf74 orchestrates germ-Leydig crosstalk to inhibit white adipose tissue browning in male mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Adropin: A New Regulator of Testicular Function-What Do We Know So Far?International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Caloric restriction attenuates oxidative and inflammatory markers of aging, while compromising germinative epithelium homeostasis in the rat aged testis.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2026Article
- Oxidative Stress-Related Programmed Cell Death in Male Infertility: Focussing on Ferroptosis.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Metabolic hubs in reproduction: The regulatory network of lipid droplets in gamete and embryo physiology (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- MAMLD1 promotes cholesterol uptake through the transcriptional regulation of SCARB1 in mouse testicular cell lines.Chinese medical journal · 2026Article
- Prenatal cadmium exposure and male infertility in mice: A multi-generational mechanistic study.Eco-Environment & Health · 2026Article
- The transcription factor HHEX maintains glucocorticoid levels and protects adrenals from androgen-induced lipid depletion.Nature communications · 2026Article
- CDK5RAP3 Regulates Testosterone Production in Mouse Leydig Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- High-altitude hypoxia and male reproductive dysfunction: testicular oxygen homeostasis, microenvironmental injury and spermatogonial niche vulnerability.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Tumor stage-dependent expression of autophagy proteins in adrenocortical carcinoma.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Effect of autophagy-related (Atg) protein 5 on mouse epididymal sperm maturation.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2026Article
- PRDX1 promotes testosterone synthesis and attenuates aging via redox regulation of ATG4B to modulate lipophagy.Nature communications · 2025Article
- FTO regulates testosterone secretion in Leydig cells: insights into the role of mReproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2025Article
- Prepubertal Diabetes Stagnates Testicular Development by Skewing Autophagy Homeostasis in Leydig Cells.Cells · 2025Article
- Regulation of testosterone synthesis by circadian clock genes and its research progress in male diseases.Asian journal of andrology · 2025Review
48 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
16 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Testosterone is indispensable for sexual development and maintaining male characteristics, and deficiency of this hormone results in primary or late-onset hypogonadism (LOH). Testosterone is primarily produced in Leydig cells, where autophagy has been reported to be extremely active. However, the functional role of autophagy in testosterone synthesis remains unknown. In this study, we show that steroidogenic cell-specific disruption of autophagy influenced the sexual behavior of aging male mice because of a reduction in serum testosterone, which is similar to the symptoms of LOH. The decline in testosterone was caused mainly by a defect in cholesterol uptake in autophagy-deficient Leydig cells. Further studies revealed that once autophagic flux was disrupted, Na
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.