Effects of FSH on testicular transcript levels . M H ABEL and others 297 Figure 2 Real-time PCR measurements of mRNA transcript levels in testes from adult hpg mice treated for 0 (control), 12, 24 or 72 h with FSH. Data show results from Leydig cell-speciﬁc transcripts (A) and from Sertoli cell-speciﬁc, androgen-dependent transcripts (B). The meanGS.E.M. of three or four animals per group is shown. Groups with different letter superscripts are signiﬁcantly different. Other transcripts Results from the array studies identiﬁed a number of transcripts regulated by FSH but without known function and/or known expression pattern in the testis. Levels of three of these transcripts (Wif1, Dmkn, Dkk3) were measured in hpg testes after FSH treatment (Fig. 5). In all cases, FSH caused a signiﬁcant increase in transcript levels conﬁrming the results of the array study. Canonical pathway analysis (Supplementary Table 3A, see supplementary data in the online version of the Journal of Molecular Endocrinology at http://jme.endocrinology-journals. org/content/vol42/issue4/) and that there was a general decline in transcripts encoding factors involved in formation and regulation of tight junctions (Supple- mentary Table 3B). Discussion Analysis of canonical pathways showed that com- ponents of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway were signiﬁcantly increased at 12 h but not at other times FSH is essential for optimum fertility in the adult male but uncertainty remains about how it acts to regulate Sertoli cell activity and spermatogenesis. The hpg mouse www.endocrinology-journals.org Journal of Molecular Endocrinology (2009) 42, 291–303