Role of sialic acid in the endocytosis of prosaposin by the nonciliated cells of the rat efferent ducts

The present study examines the mechanism of endocytosis of testicular prosaposin by the nonciliated cells of the efferent ducts. Testicular prosaposin is secreted by Sertoli cells into the lumen of the seminiferous tubules as a 70 kDa isomer where it binds to the tail of spermatozoa. In the efferent ducts, after dissociating from the plasma membrane of the spermatozoa, prosaposin is endocytosed by the nonciliated cells, presumably by receptor-mediated endocytosis. The initial step of receptor-mediated endocytosis usually results from the binding of a ligand's terminal oligosaccharide to a receptor on the cell surface. Thus, in the present study, several monosaccharides were injected in the lumen of the efferent ducts to compete with the binding and endocytosis of prosaposin. A quantitative electron microscopic approach was utilized and the number of gold particles, indicating anti-prosaposin immunoreactive sites, were scored over the various cell compartments including the plasma membrane, endocytic vesicles, early endosomes, and late endosomes. The length of the plasma membrane and the areas of endocytic vesicles, early endosomes, and late endosomes were measured with an image analyzer and the number of grains expressed per μm (plasma membrane) and μm² (endocytic vesicles/endosomes) respectively. The quantitative analysis was performed in untreated animals (controls) and animals treated with various sugars (i.e., glucose, galactose, mannose, mannose 6-phosphate, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine) injected into the lumen of the efferent ducts at a concentration of 20 mM. Sialic acid caused the greatest decrease in the labeling density of the endocytic elements. Mannose 6-phosphate also caused a decrease in labeling but to a lesser extent. Various amounts of sialic acid (0.02 mM, 0.2 mM, 2 mM, 20 mM, and 200 mM) showed that most of these concentrations produced a significant decrease in the labeling density of endocytic vesicles and endosomes. Moreover, Western blots of prosaposin isolated from seminiferous tubular fluids followed by glycan analysis with Sambucus nigra agglutinin (SNA) and Maackia amurensis agglutinin (MAA), revealed that this protein has sialic acid residues that are terminally linked to galactose and/or N-acetylgalactosamine ( α-NeuNAc-2->6]-Gal and α-NeuNAc-2->6]-GalNAc). These data indicate that testicular prosaposin is removed from the lumen of the efferent ducts by the noncialiated cells via a receptor that recognizes prosaposin's terminal sialic acid residues. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 51:156–166, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.