The Ultrastructure of the Canine Testicular Interstitial Tissue12

Electron Microscopic Study on the Testicular Interstitial Cells in the Mouse

“…In its nucleus (N) two spheridies (arrows) and nucleoli (NL) are seen. The arrow-head indicates a filopodium of the Leydig cell taken up in a coated invagination forms have been confirmed in a variety of species (BELT andCAVAZOS, 1967, 1971;DE KRETSER, 1967a;SINHA and SEAL, 1967;CHRISTENSEN, 1970CHRISTENSEN, , 1975CONNELL, 1972;USUI, 1976;WING and LIN, 1977). Distinction between tubular and lamellar cristae in a single section was not always easy, and this apparently caused different conclusions reached by different authors in the same animal species-YAMADA (1965), NAGANO (1965) and DE KRETSER (1967b) vs. DE KRETSER (1967a) and CHRISTENSEN (1970; SCHWARZ and MERKER (1965) and USUI (1976) vs. MURAKAMI (1966) and LORDING and DE KRETSER (1972.…”

“…The majority of the previous authors supported the view that the smooth membranes of the interstitial cells formed a network of interconnected tubules extended throughout the cytoplasm, which could transform into flattened, sometimes fenestrated cisternae (FAWCETT and BURGOS, 1960;CHRISTENSEN and FAWCETT, 1961;CRABO, 1963;LEESON, 1963;CHRISTENSEN, 1965CHRISTENSEN, , 1970CHRISTENSEN, , 1975NAGANO, 1965;CHRISTENSEN and FAWCETT, 1966;BELT andCAVAZOS, 1967, 1971;AOKI, 1968AOKI, , 1970MERKOW et al, 1968b;BLACK and CHRISTENSEN, 1969;PELLINIEMI and NIEMI, 1969;GONDOS et al, 1974;CONNELL and CHRISTENSEN, 1975;WEAKER, 1977;WING and LIN, 1977). Against this view, some authors proposed vesicular type SER membranes (MERKOW et al, 1968a;BAILLIE, 1964;SCHWARZ and MERKER, 1965).…”

“…As has recently been reviewed by CHRISTENSEN (1975), cytochemical and biochemical investigations on the testicular interstitial cells in several vertebrate species have established that the cells produce androgens which regulate the development and activity of the male reproductive tract and external sex characteristics and which possibly enhance spermatogenesis in the seminiferous tubule. Electron microscope studies have revealed that they, like other steroid-secreting cells, contain abundant agranular endoplasmic reticulum (SER), numerous mitochondria with tubular cristae 51 M. OHATA: and a variable number of lipid droplets.…”

“…Occurrence of partially fenestrated cisternae derived from tubular SER membranes and occasionally forming a lamellar whorl containing a cytoplasmic element in the center was first reported by CARR and CARR (1962) in Leydig cells of the adult mouse, and since then many investigators have confirmed this particular structure in a variety of animals except in humans (BAILLIE, 1964;CHRISTENSEN, 1965;CHRISTENSEN and FAWCETT, 1966;MERKOW et al, 1968b;BLACK and CHRISTENSEN, 1969;SINHA and SEAL, 1969;ICHIHARA, 1970;CONNELL and CHRISTENSEN, 1975;WEAKER, 1977). The present finding on the membranous whorls in the interstitial cell of the ddYstrain mouse is in exact agreement with what has been described by the above authors.…”

“…Around the microbodies, the cisternae of the whorl partially form annulate lamellae was proposed by CHRISTENSEN (1965), CHRISTENSEN andFAWCETT (1966) andCHRISTENSEN (1975) that the SER membranes of the Leydig cell might be the site of emzymes necessary for the conversion of pregnenolone to testosterone.…”