Unwanted childlessness affects approximately one in six couples worldwide. - though the exact proportion of the predominant cause of the problem remains controversial, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), in nearly 40% of cases the cause can be attributed to the female, in 20% to the male, in 25% to both, and in 15% the cause remains unknown. Based on these ?gures, the - cidence of male factor infertility in the general population is approximately 7%. The majority of these men, approximately 30%, experience irreversible idiopathic infertility and cannot father children without some form of medical intervention. Male factor infertility, in addition, may be caused by testicular germ cell cancer, which is known to represent the most common cancer among young men, aged 15 to 35 years, in Western industrialized countries. The number of affected men has increased dramatically over the past 50 years. There is now growing evidence that human testicular germ cell cancer originates from fetal germ cells exhibiting an aberrant programme of gene expression, and tumour progression may be favoured by an aberrant Sertoli cell-germ cell communication.

Spermatogenesis

Organization of the seminiferous epithelium
Synchronization of spermatogenesis
Regulation of spermatogenesis
The Sertoli cell
Origin and maturation of the Sertoli cell
Altered Sertoli cell differentiation in testicular disorders
Differentiation markers of the Sertoli cell
Sertoli cell intercellular communication
Knockout and transgenic mouse models and mutations in man
The differentiation of male germ cells
The regulation of gene expression during prespermatogenesis
The regulation of gene expression during spermatogenesis
Idiopathic male infertility: impaired histone-to-protamine exchange?- Male infertility caused by incorrect transcriptional regulation
Male infertility caused by incorrect translational regulation
Male infertility caused by incorrect chromatin condensation
Carcinoma-in-situ of the testis and testicular germ cell tumour: impaired intercellular communication due to altered Sertoli cell differentiation?- Carcinoma-in-situ of the testis and testicular germ cell tumour
Sertoli cell differentiation in seminiferous tubules infiltrated with carcinoma-in-situ of the testis
Role of gap junctional intercellular communication in carcinogenesis
Role of gap junctional intercellular communication in the development of carcinoma-in-situ of the testis to testicular germ cell tumour
References
Subject index.