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The degenerative fate of germ cells not conforming to stage in the pubertal golden hamster testis
Author(s) -
MIETHING ANDREAS
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.932
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1469-7580
pISSN - 0021-8782
DOI - 10.1046/j.1469-7580.1998.19340519.x
Subject(s) - spermatogenesis , biology , seminiferous tubule , germinal epithelium , epithelium , germ cell , sertoli cell , mesocricetus , hamster , microbiology and biotechnology , andrology , anatomy , endocrinology , genetics , medicine , gene
In the golden hamster ( Mesocricetus auratus ), pubertal establishment of spermatogenesis includes a defined period (d 26–30 of life) during which elongation of spermatids is selectively arrested. The resulting appearance of germ cell associations not conforming to stage and the phenomenon of desynchronisation‐related germ cell degeneration are analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively by means of light and ‘retrospective’ electron microscopy. From d 26 onwards, the portion of tubules containing non‐stage conforming germ cell associations gradually increases up to 37.5% of sectioned tubules on d 32. Concomitantly, the degree of desynchronisation rises to a maturational gap between spermatids and associated younger germ cells of 7 stages of the seminiferous epithelium cycle, i.e. of fully half a cycle. Beyond d 32, the frequency of desynchronised tubule segments decreases again. Some of the arrested round spermatids and, eventually, all belatedly elongating spermatids degenerate and are lost from the epithelium. Thus a regular maturation of advanced spermatids does not succeed under non‐stage conforming conditions. Possibly it is not the desynchronisation between the associated germ cell generations and the spermatids by itself that impedes normal further development of the latter cells. Instead this may be due to the maturational delay of the stage‐aberrant cells by several stages compared to the seminiferous epithelium as a whole and, especially, in relation to the stage‐conditioned functional state of the neighbouring Sertoli cells.