Spermatogenesis development of adult <i>Mafb</i>-cKO mice.

<p>Six-week-old mice were injected with tamoxifen and testes of cKO mice at 3- and 8-months of age were examined compared to those of age-matched controls (<i>n</i> = 4 for each group). (A) Testicular sections stained with Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS). (B) Immunostaining with various testicular cell types; undifferentiated spermatogonia (GFRA1 and PLZF), differentiated spermatogonia (KIT⁺ inside the tubule), spermatocytes (SCP3), spermatids (PNA-Lectin), Sertoli cells (SOX9 and Vimentin), and Leydig cells (KIT⁺ outside the tubule and STAR). The color of markers is indicated in the left boxes in panels. Colored arrows corresponding to the boxed markers are shown. (C) The expression level of the genes involved in testis function and germ cell development. The marker genes representing undifferentiated spermatogonia (<i>Nanos3</i>), differentiated spermatogonia (<i>c-Kit</i>), undifferentiated and differentiated spermatogonia (<i>Sohlh1</i>), differentiated spermatogonia and preleptotene spermatocytes (<i>Stra8</i>), spermatids (<i>Prm2</i>), Leydig cells (<i>Hsd3b1</i>), and Sertoli cells (<i>Sox9</i>) were analyzed by qRT-PCR. Each reaction was performed in duplicate for each gene. The data represent the means±SEM and are shown as relative mRNA expression after normalization to <i>Hprt</i>. *<i>P</i><0.05. (D) The proportion of seminiferous stages: I-III, IV-VI, VII-VIII, and IX-XII from each genotype. *<i>P</i><0.05. M; Month.