Endocrine Abstracts

Over the last decades, studies using pharmacological approaches and transgenic mouse models have defined the major roles of bile acids as signaling molecules. Bile acids control many physiological functions such as lipid homeostasis, glucose, and energy metabolisms. In the last years, bile acids have been demonstrated to control male reproductive function. Here, we will highlight the impacts of bile acids on testicular physiology focusing on the roles of the nuclear bile acid receptor FXRα (Farnesoid-X-Receptor α) on mouse spermatogonial cells as well as on steroidogenic Leydig cells and the interaction with the hypothalamus/pituitary axis. We will present data supporting a major role for the FXRα signaling pathway in the deleterious impacts of the oestrogenic endocrine disruptor Bisphenol-A on testicular physiology. Finally, we will show data on the regulation of bile acid homeostasis within the testis. All these data should define research perspectives to better define the links between metabolic pathologies (liver) and fertility disorders. This should allow proposing new innovative therapeutic tracks in the field of the biology of reproduction.