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In situ architecture of the intercellular organelle reservoir between epididymal epithelial cells by volume electron microscopy
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In situ architecture of the intercellular organelle reservoir between epididymal epithelial cells by volume electron microscopy
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Journal Article
In situ architecture of the intercellular organelle reservoir between epididymal epithelial cells by volume electron microscopy
2025
Overview
Mammalian epididymal epithelial cells are crucial for sperm maturation. Historically, vacuole-like ultrastructures in epididymal epithelial cells were observed via transmission electron microscopy but were undefined. Here, we utilize volume electron microscopy (vEM) to generate 3D reconstructions of epididymal epithelial cells and identify these vacuoles as intercellular organelle reservoirs (IORs) in the lateral intercellular space (LIS), which contains protein aggregates, autophagosomes, lysosome-related organelles and mitochondrial residues. Immunolabelling of organelle markers such as P62, LC3, LAMP1 and TOMM20 confirm these findings. The IOR size or number varies across four epididymal regions and decreases with age. Rab27a mutant mice exhibit reduced IORs in the caput epididymis and a subfertility phenotype, suggesting the involvement of Rab27a in the formation of IORs. Furthermore, we observe the presence of IORs between intestinal epithelial cells besides epididymis. Amino acid transporters at IOR edges suggest dynamic protein recycling. Our findings reveal that the IOR is an important structure critical for organelle turnover and recycling outside epithelial cells with limited self-degradation capabilities.
Undefined vacuole-like ultrastructures between epididymal cells have been observed. Here, the authors reveal that these structures contain organelle residues and protein aggregates that suggest a reservoir for protein recycling.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
Subject
/ Animals
/ Autophagosomes - ultrastructure
/ Epithelial Cells - metabolism
/ Epithelial Cells - ultrastructure
/ Humanities and Social Sciences
/ Male
/ Mice
/ Microscopy, Electron - methods
/ Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
/ Mitochondria - ultrastructure
/ Proteins
/ rab GTP-Binding Proteins - genetics
/ rab GTP-Binding Proteins - metabolism
/ Residues
/ Science
/ Transmission electron microscopy
/ Vacuoles
