Expression of fibronectin and laminin in fetal male gonads in vivo and in vitro with and without testicular morphogenesis

Abstract Sertoli cell differentiation occurs in vitro, even when testicular morphogenesis is inhibited by addition of serum to the culture medium (Magre, S. and A. Jost: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, 7831–7834 (1984)). Using indirect immunohistochemical technique, we have studied the expression of fibronectin and laminin in gonads lacking testicular morphogenesis, as compared in vivo controls and gonads cultured in synthetic medium. In undifferentiated gonads in vivo, fibronectin and laminin are distributed uniformly in the blastema. If testicular differentiation occurs in vivo, laminin is detected only in the basement membranes; when it occurs in vitro, laminin is found both in the basement membranes and among the stromal tissue. In gonads without seminiferous cords (cultured in serum-supplemented medium), fibronectin and laminin are both present, they are uniformly distributed among the gonadal cells.