Desmosomes in the testis: Moving into an unchartered territory

Desmosomes are cell-cell junctions that link to cytoplasmic intermediate filaments, and they are known to mediate robust and stable adhesion in organs such as the skin and heart. Desmosomes are also present between apposing Sertoli cells at the blood-testis barrier, and between Sertoli cells and all germ cells up to, but not including, step 8 spermatids in the seminiferous epithelium. Unfortunately, they remain to be one of the least studied cell junction types in the seminiferous epithelium of the mammalian testis. In this article, we briefly discuss how kinases and the actin cytoskeleton relate to the study of desmosomes in the testis. It is hoped that this information is used to initiate more studies on the biology of the desmosome in the future