{
  "abstract": "Ether lipids, including plasmalogens and the germ-cell glycolipid seminolipid, require the peroxisomal enzyme GNPAT. Gnpat-knockout mice are male-infertile, but their testis has been described only qualitatively. We immunostained testis sections from 12-week-old wild-type (WT) and Gnpat-knockout (KO) mice (n = 3 per genotype) for SOX9 and {gamma}H2AX with DAPI and analysed 24 fields (22,560 nuclei) with an automated pipeline and a conservative animal-level analysis. Seminiferous tubules fell from 90% to 43% of the section, and the interstitium expanded five-fold (from 11% to 54%). Interstitial cells were 1.6-fold larger but not more densely packed, and half of them, against a quarter in WT, showed lipofuscin-like autofluorescence. Spermatid-sized nuclei fell from 38% to 10%, with the loss confined to the adluminal compartment. The architectural, interstitial and germ-cell changes held at the animal level (P [≤] 0.02). Anucleate SOX9-immunoreactive bodies, likely residual bodies, were 2.2-fold rarer, and {gamma}H2AX was not increased, which argues against a DNA-damage checkpoint arrest. Ether-lipid deficiency thus arrests germ cells, most likely through loss of seminolipid, and remodels the interstitium into an expanded compartment of enlarged, autofluorescent cells, a second target relevant to rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute of Rheological Functions of Food"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "N. Shamim"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Fujiyama"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Masanori"
    },
    {
      "name": "S. Mawatari"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Fujino"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/72r7j6j3y7gb0.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.17.759782",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.17.759782v1.full",
  "id": "72r7j6j3y7gb0",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.17.759782v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "physiology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2743|Sperm and Testicular Function"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223230017",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.17.759782v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/72r7j6j3y7gb0.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:14Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.17.759782",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.17.759782v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "biorxiv:physiology",
      "subfield": "physiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Ether-lipid deficiency remodels the testicular interstitium beyond spermatogenic arrest in Gnpat-knockout mice",
  "title_text": "Ether-lipid deficiency remodels the testicular interstitium beyond spermatogenic arrest in Gnpat-knockout mice",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:14Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/72r7j6j3y7gb0",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}