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Regular Article |
a Department of Physiology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Carbondale, Illinois 62901
b School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164
ABSTRACT
The distribution of type A spermatogonia was studied using drawings of cross-sectioned tubules at various stages of the spermatogenic cycle of perfusion-fixed, epoxy-embedded mouse testis. Spermatogonia were classified as either positioned opposite the interstitium or opposite the region where two tubules make contact or in a defined, intermediate region at which the two tubules diverged. At stage V, the population of type A spermatogonia, comprised of As through Aal cells, is randomly positioned around the periphery of the seminiferous tubule. The As through Aal population becomes nonrandomly distributed beginning at stage VI, being located primarily in regions where the tubule opposes the interstitium, and remains nonrandom through stage III of the next cycle. The A1 spermatogonia of stage VII, derived from most Apr and Aal spermatogonia, and the A2 spermatogonia of stage IX, derived from the A1 spermatogonia, are also nonrandomly positioned opposing the interstitium. However, the A3 population of stage XI becomes randomly distributed around the tubule. To our knowledge, these are the first data to show that the more primitive spermatogonial types (As to Aal) move to specific sites within the seminiferous tubule. Division of the regularly spaced, more primitive spermatogonia (As to Aal) leads to the spread of their progeny (A1 to A4) laterally along the base of the seminiferous tubule. The lateral spread from more or less evenly spaced foci ensures that spermatogenesis is conducted uniformly around the entire tubule. The data also suggest that the position of a seminiferous tubule in the mouse is stabilized in relationship to other seminiferous tubules.
1 Supported by the NIH (HD 35494 to M.D.G. and L.D.R.) and a Latin American Fellowship (to H.C.-G.).
2 Correspondence and current address: Helio Chiarini-Garcia, Department of Morphology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 31270-901. FAX: 55 31 3499 2780; chiarini{at}icb.ufmg.br
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