ArticleEndocrinology2018
Germ Cell-Specific Retinoic Acid Receptor α Functions in Germ Cell Organization, Meiotic Integrity, and Spermatogonia.
Article in Endocrinology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of retinoic acid in the journey of spermatogonium to spermatozoa: From basic to clinical application.F1000Research · 2022Pooled it
- Characterizing the Ovarian Cytogenetic Dynamics of Sichuan Bream (International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- The retinoic acid family-like nuclear receptor SmRAR identified by single-cell transcriptomics of ovarian cells controls oocyte differentiation in Schistosoma mansoni.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Editorial: Insights in developmental endocrinology: 2023.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Strategies for developing retinoic acid receptor alpha-selective antagonists as novel agents for male contraception.European journal of medicinal chemistry · 2023Article
- Investigation of selective retinoic acid receptor alpha antagonist ER-50891 and related analogs for male contraception.Archiv der Pharmazie · 2023Article
- Retinoic Acid Receptor Alpha Is Essential in Postnatal Sertoli Cells but Not in Germ Cells.Cells · 2022Article
- Differential RA responsiveness among subsets of mouse late progenitor spermatogonia.Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2021Article
- BNC1 Promotes Spermatogenesis by Regulating Transcription of Ybx2 and Papolb via Direct Binding to Their Promotor Elements.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2021Article
- Macrophage ubiquitin-specific protease 2 contributes to motility, hyperactivation, capacitation, and in vitro fertilization activity of mouse sperm.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2021Article
- An mTORC1-dependent switch orchestrates the transition between mouse spermatogonial stem cells and clones of progenitor spermatogonia.Cell reports · 2021Article
- Deciphering the autophagy regulatory network via single-cell transcriptome analysis reveals a requirement for autophagy homeostasis in spermatogenesis.Theranostics · 2021Article
- Retinoic acid receptor antagonists for male contraception: current status†.Biology of reproduction · 2020Review
- Two Opposing Faces of Retinoic Acid: Induction of Stemness or Induction of Differentiation Depending on Cell-Type.Biomolecules · 2019Review
- Germline deletion of Cdyl causes teratozoospermia and progressive infertility in male mice.Cell death & disease · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Retinoic acid receptor α (RARA), a retinoic acid-dependent transcription factor, is expressed in both somatic and germ cells of the testis. Rara-null male mice with global Rara mutations displayed severely degenerated testis and infertility phenotypes. To elucidate the specific responsibility of germ cell RARA in spermatogenesis, Rara was deleted in germ cells, generating germ cell-specific Rara conditional knockout (cKO) mice. These Rara cKO animals exhibited phenotypes of quantitatively reduced epididymal sperm counts and disorganized germ cell layers in the seminiferous tubules, which worsened with aging. Abnormal tubules lacked lumen, contained vacuoles, and showed massive germ cell sloughing, all characteristics similar to those observed in Rara-null tubules. Spermatocyte chromosomal spreads revealed a novel role for germ cell RARA in modulating the integrity of synaptonemal complexes and meiotic progression. Furthermore, the initiation of spermatogenesis from spermatogonial stem cells was decreased in Rara cKO testes following busulfan treatment, supporting a role of germ cell RARA in spermatogonial proliferation. Collectively, the evidence in this study indicates that RARA produced in male germ cells has a broad spectrum of functions throughout spermatogenesis, which includes the maintenance of seminiferous epithelium organization, the integrity of the meiotic genome, and spermatogonial proliferation and differentiation. The results further suggest that germ cell RARA has dual functions: intrinsically in germ cells, balancing proliferation and differentiation of spermatogonia, and controlling genome integrity during meiosis; and extrinsically in the crosstalks with Sertoli cells, controlling the cell junctional physiology for coordinating proper spatial and temporal development of germ cells during spermatogenesis.
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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.