Cytoskeletal orchestration of glucose uptake in Sertoli cell to support efferocytosis of apoptotic germ cells.

Di Wu, Nuruliarizki Shinta Pandupuspitasari, Kejia Zhang, Yuan Tang, Faheem Ahmed Khan, Haitao Li, Chunjie Huang, Fei Sun

Biochimica et biophysica acta. Molecular cell research 2023 Apr

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Efferocytosis of non-viable germ cells by Sertoli cells (SCs) constitutes a sentinel for testis homeostasis, yet how SCs signal for the metabolic and cytoskeletal adaption to this energetically costly process remains unexplored. Spectrin is membrane-associated periodic skeleton assembled into an actin-spectrin-based cytoskeletal structure with an interaction with glucose transporter Glut1. The contribution of spectrin to glucose uptake and efferocytosis is unknown. In this study, we identified a cross-regulation between glucose metabolism and efferocytosis in SCs. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of glucose uptake or glycolysis compromises efferocytosis activity. We further found that βII-spectrin is a hitherto unappreciated regulator of glucose metabolism and cytoskeletal architecture. βII-spectrin deficiency impairs glucose uptake and lactate production in SCs. Moreover, a defective assembly of cytoskeleton and a loss of blood-testis barrier integrity are also featured by SCs deficient in βII-spectrin. The disruption in glucose metabolism and cytoskeletal organization synergistically lead to a defective efferocytosis. In vivo siRNA-mediated targeting of βII-spectrin in testis causes an obvious morphological aberration in seminiferous epithelium with the presence of exfoliated germ cells and multinucleated giant cells. Importantly, a decrease in expression of αII/βII-spectrin was observed in testes of Adjudin-induced infertility model. By exploring the functional relevance of βII-spectrin to the metabolic and cytoskeletal regulation of efferocytosis, our study proposes a potential link between βII-spectrin deregulation and male infertility. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Di Wu, Nuruliarizki Shinta Pandupuspitasari, Kejia Zhang, Yuan Tang, Faheem Ahmed Khan, Haitao Li, Chunjie Huang, Fei Sun. Cytoskeletal orchestration of glucose uptake in Sertoli cell to support efferocytosis of apoptotic germ cells. Biochimica et biophysica acta. Molecular cell research. 2023 Apr;1870(4):119434