Premium
The Glandular Tissue in the Testis of Salamandra salamandra (L.) (Amphibia, Urodela)
Author(s) -
Bergmann Martin,
Schindelmeiser Jochen,
Greven Hartmut
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
acta zoologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.414
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1463-6395
pISSN - 0001-7272
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-6395.1983.tb00790.x
Subject(s) - salamandra , biology , sertoli cell , epithelium , anatomy , tunica albuginea (penis) , rete testis , microbiology and biotechnology , efferent ducts , spermatogenesis , sperm , epididymis , endocrinology , salamander , penis , zoology , genetics , botany
The glandular tissue in the testis of the urodele Salamandra salamandra was studied by electron microscopy during different developmental stages. After spermiation, steroid hormone (SH)‐secreting cells, which surround seminiferous units (lobules) of the mature part of the testis, proliferate, whereas fibrocytes of the same lobule boundary transform into smooth muscle cells, which in part become closely associated with the epithelium of ductuli efferentes. Sertoli cells within the lobules appear not to be involved in SH‐secretion; they phagocytize spermatozoa which have not been discharged. In the residual stage SH‐secreting cells, as well as Sertoli cells, are degenerated. The tissue is composed of undifferentiated fibrocytic cells, probably derived from smooth muscle cells and/or SH‐secreting cells, of solid cell cords representing the formerly open ductuli efferentes and of primordial germ cells ensheathed by follicle cells. There are indications that smooth muscle cells are involved in phagocytosis when glandular tissue undergoes regression.