Seminiferous Tubules and Spermatogenesis

Abstract

One of the major concerns of the world health community is the infertility. The definition of infertility according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) is the inability of a healthy couple to achieve a conception after one year of regular, unprotected intercourse. Fertility complications affect seven percent of the male. The causes of infertility were divided to non-obstructive and obstructive. But, in almost 75% of male infertility cases are idiopathic with predominance of the genetic abnormalities. Numerical or structural chromosomal abnormalities are considered as genetic abnormalities that occur during the meiotic division in spermatogenesis. These abnormalities get transferred to the Offspring, which affects the normal and even the artificial conception. In the human reproduction, sperm cells are considered as a delivery vehicle for the male genetic material packed in chromosomes, which are composed of nearly 2-meter Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule and their packaging proteins. This chapter points to grant a summarized description of individual components of the male reproductive system: the seminiferous tubule and spermatogenesis. Here, we describe step by step the structure of the testis seminiferous tubule and what occurs inside these tubules like cell communication and germ cell development from spermatogonia until spermatozoon. This book chapter is very useful for the biologists and physicians working in Assisted reproduction field to understand the physiology and pathology of spermatogenesis.

Whole Exome Sequencing and In Silico Analysis of Human Sertoli in Patients with Non-Obstructive Azoospermia

“…Proteolytic enzymes, which are produced and released by Sertoli cells in the testicular seminiferous tubule, play a key role in spermatogenesis [ 21 , 22 ]. Only little proteolytic activity was detected in Sertoli cell-conditioned supernatants, suggesting that the proteases under investigation were mostly found on Sertoli cell membranes [ 23 ].…”

Biomaterials for Testicular Bioengineering: How far have we come and where do we have to go?

“…The development of male gametes is a complex differentiation process that takes place in the testis and produces sperm ( 75 , 76 ). Spermatogenesis begins with the proliferation and differentiation of diploid spermatogonial stem cells, followed by meiosis of spermatocytes that form round spermatids ( 77 ).…”

“…In males, these gonocytes undergo differentiation before puberty to form A0 spermatogonia, from which other germ cells originate ( 81 ). During the first phase of spermatogenesis, the proliferation and differentiation of spermatogonia occurs ( 75 ). The types of undifferentiated and differentiated spermatogonia vary according to the species ( 82 ).…”

Detection of Sperm DNA Integrity and Some Immunological Aspects in Infertile Males

“…Germ cells of the male go on meiosis to begin their multifarious alteration into spermatozoa, highly specialized cells by the initiation of puberty. Spermatogenesis needs 24 days (Houda, et al, 2021). Each ejaculation of fertile men typically contains from 15 million sperm to over 200 million sperm per milliliter (ml) of semen which is considered a normal sperm count, only one normal sperm precisely enters an ovum.…”

“…In the middle piece, there are mitochondria which are spirally arranged around the first portion of the tail and are responsible for oxidative phosphorylation and provide much of the energy. The first part of the tail is consist of the flagella axoneme that contains nine courses (longitudinally arranged) in the peripheral of two central tubules; the peripheral tubules are arranged as groups of double tubules (Houda, et al, 2021).…”