The peritubular myofibroblasts in the testes from normal men and men with Klinefelter's syndrome. A quantitative, ultrastructural, and immunohistochemical study

Abstract

The ultrastructure and immunostaining with antibodies against actin, desmin, and vimentin were studied in the peritubular myofibroblasts of testes from normal men and men with Klinefelter' syndrome (KS). The seminiferous tubules were classified into five types (a-e), related to the progressive degree of sclerosis measured as thickening of the lamina propria. In control testes, only types a and b tubules were present, whereas the testes from men with KS showed types b, c, d, and e tubules. The ultrastructural study revealed abundant microfilament bundles with electron-dense bodies in the cell periphery of the myofibroblasts in a and b tubules. In c tubules, the microfilament bundles of the myofibroblasts were lacking in electron-dense bodies. Myofibroblasts in tubules d and e showed scanty microfilament bundles. Immunostaining of peritubular myofibroblasts with anti-actin antibodies was intense in tubule types a-c and scanty in types d and e. Immunostaining of myofibroblasts with anti-desmin antibodies was intense in tubule types a and b, and negative in types c-e. Immunostaining with anti-vimentin antibodies was weak in tubule types a-c and intense in types d and e. Quantitative study revealed that with the progression of sclerosis, the number and volume per cross-sectioned tubule of actin-containing cells and, mainly, desmin-containing cells decrease while the number and volume of vimentin-containing cells increase.

Immunocytochemical and quantitative study of the tunica albuginea testis in young and ageing men

“…Of these two hypotheses, the latter seems the more likely. Although, in the testicular parenchyma, neither the volume of interstitial connective tissue nor the number of peritubular cells change with ageing (Johnson 1986), modifications in the intermediate filament immunoexpression of peritubular cells have been described in seminiferous tubules that showed severe germ cell depletion caused by different etiologies (Davidoff et al 1990;Martín et al 1992;Santamaría et al 1992). The most consistent modification in the peritubular cells of these tubules is a decrease in desmin immunoexpression, contrary to that found in the tunica albuginea cells of ageing men.…”

Testicular cell cytoskeleton in the newt,Triturus marmoratus marmoratus, during the annual cycle

“…The peritubular cells of many vertebrates, including mammals ) and fish (Arenas et al, 1995b;Martin et al, 1992;Thompson et al, 1987;Timmermans and Dulos, 1990), are desmin-positive cells. The myoid characteristics of these cells have corroborated the opinion on their probable involvement in tubular contraction and contribution to sperm displacement along the seminiferous tubules.…”

Immunohistochemical demonstration of cytoskeletal proteins in the ovine testis during postnatal development

“…These findings demonstrate that variations in cytoskeletal proteins closely parallel the transformation of peritubular cells from fibroblastic to myoid elements. The fact that desmin can be localized in peritubular myoid cells of the adult human testis Martin et al 1992) and adult rat testis Palombi et al 1992;Paranko and Pelliniemi 1992), but not in the tubular lamina propria of adult rams, underlines species-specific differences in the degree of differentiation from fibroblasts to true smooth muscle cells in the peritubular cell population (Dierichs and Wrobel 1973;Bustos-Obregdn and Courot 1974;Wrobel et al 1979Wrobel et al , 1988Leeson and Forman 1981).…”