Paracrine regulation of spermatogenesis: the virtue of dialogue Authors Bernard Jégou Charles Pineau Abstract Very early in the history of humanity, people discovered that there was a relationship between the existence of testicles and certain important functions. Undoubtedly, the accessibility of this organ had something to do with this. Since the Neolithic Period, castration has been used as a means of domesticating and fattening certain animals and of punishing men for adultery. The idea of an endocrinological function and of experimentation in this area first arose in 1849 with the work of Berthold, who transplanted testes from a normal cockerel into a castrated cockerel and showed that the cockscomb and secondary sexual characteristics of the animal were maintained after this transplantation. In 1889, in Paris, the experiments of Brown-Séquard, involving the self-injection of testicular extracts, were also crucial in establishing the concept of a hormone, despite the derision with which such experiments would be regarded today. Emile Zolas book in the Rougon-Macquart series, Le docteur Pascal, was inspired by that study. In the book, the doctor injected himself with extracts of rabbit testis and claimed to have recovered all his vitality, including his sexual vigor. However, the paradox concerning the testis remains, as we regularly continue to discuss it without really understanding how it functions. Downloads Text complet (Català) Published 2007-12-27 Issue 56, 2005 : Endocrinologia molecular / Jaume Reventós editor Section Articles License The intellectual property of the articles belongs to the respective authors. At the time of submitting the articles to Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia, authors accept the following terms: — Authors assign to the SCB (a subsidiary of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans) the rights of reproduction, public communication (including communication through social networks) and distribution of the articles submitted for publication to Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia, in any form and medium, including digital platforms. The Publications Committee reserves the right to accept or refuse submitted articles and the right to make any editorial changes it deems appropriate. If the suggested changes are accepted by authors, they should re-submit the article with such changes. — Authors answer to the SCB for the authorship and originality of submitted articles. In other words, authors assure that submitted articles do not contain fragments of works by other authors or fragments of their own previously published works; that the content of articles is original, and that the copyright of third parties is not infringed upon. Authors accept this responsibility and undertake to hold harmless the SCB for any loss or damage resulting from non-compliance with this obligation. Furthermore, they should include a statement in articles submitted to the journal regarding their responsibility for the content of the articles. — Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for the reproduction of all graphic material included in articles, and they should moreover ensure that images, videos, etc., have been created with the consent of the individuals appearing in them, and that material belonging to third parties is clearly identified and acknowledged as such within the text. Likewise, authors should provide the respective consents and authorisations to the SCB when submitting articles. — The SCB is exempt from any liability arising from the possible infringement of intellectual property rights by authors. In all cases, it undertakes to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies, if necessary. — Unless otherwise stated in the text or in the graphic material, the contents published in the journal are subject to an Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 3.0 Spain (by-nc-nd) license from Creative Commons, the full text of which may be consulted at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.en. Therefore, the general public is authorised to reproduce, distribute and communicate articles as long as their authorship and publishing entity are acknowledged, and no commercial use is made of them nor derivative work produced from them. — The journal is not responsible for the ideas and opinions expressed by the authors of published articles.
