What brain and testes have in common? A new article release from our lab tries to figure it out!

An entitled study “Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought?” published in Open Biology, from The Royal Society suggests that brains are more like testicles than previously thought. The brain and testis overlap in more than 13,000 ways. Margarida Fardilha, the principal investigator says this study “brought new to the topic an exhaustive comparison between brain and testis, taking into account different perspectives”.

In their comparison between the brain and testes the authors found that the two were unusually similar, more than the 28 other tissues of the body they evaluated. The brain and testes have 13,442 proteins in common, out of the 14,315 and 15,687 they each create.

If those two tissues had similar biological functions, maybe it could explain links between conditions that harm both. As it turns out, certain dysfunctions of the brain have been linked to changed testicles. If testicles and brains have so much in common, analysing their shared biology may contribute to move forward treatments for these issues?

The team argues for a more thorough analysis of the shared proteins and their functions, which they say could lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying diseases and better treatments.

We would like to congratulate the authors for the new publication and the bold suggestions of thsi topic, specially to Bárbara Matos and Doctor Margarida Fardilha.

Find out more: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.200322