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Biology of Reproduction, Vol 22, 383-391, Copyright © 1980 by Society for the Study of Reproduction
1 Department of Anatomy,
Temple University School of Medicine,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140 Leydig cell clusters in adult testes enlarge considerably under treatment with excess LH or hCG.
However, it has been uncertain in the past whether this expansion involves an increase in the
number of Leydig cells or merely an enlargement of the individual cells. We have used morphometric methods to investigate this question in the testes of rats treated chronically with hCG.
Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected s.c. daily with 100 IU hCG for up to 5 weeks. Testes
were fixed by perfusion with Bouin's fixative, embedded in paraffin, sectioned longitudinally and
stained for light microscopy with Mallory azan. To avoid counting macrophages, which are also
numerous in the interstitial tissue, the animals were injected with trypan blue before sacrifice. The
number of Leydig cells and their volume was determined by morphometric methods (Weibel and
Bolender, 1973). Appropriate normal controls were included. The volume of Leydig cell clusters
increased by a factor of 4.7 during the 5 weeks of hCG treatment. The number of Leydig cells
(initially averaging 18.6 x 106/cm3 testis) increased to 3 times the control value by 5 weeks of
treatment (P<0.001), while the average volume of individual Leydig cells (initially
2200 µm3)
enlarged only 1.6 times. We conclude that chronic treatment with an excess of hCG increases the
number of Leydig cells in the testes of adult rats and that this hyperplasia is more important than
cell hypertrophy in the expansion of Leydig cell clusters.
Accepted on November 8, 1979
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