Summary
Thin sections of normal testes from the cyprinodont Aphanius dispar were studied by electron microscopy after intravascular injection of live specimens with horseradish peroxidase. The intercellular space in the spermatogenic cysts is marked differently by the tracer according to the degree of differentiation of the germ cells. Spermatogonia and gonocytes undergoing meiosis are surrounded by a dark band of the marker. This band gradually disappears during spermiogenesis. In cysts containing ripe spermatozoa, the marker penetrates a short distance between the bases of adjoining Sertoli cells bordering the cysts, but is arrested by tight junctional complexes near the lumina of the cysts. The tight junctions between the Sertoli cells provide a permeability barrier between the vascular spaces of the stroma and the lumina of ripe cysts.
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Abbreviations
- BM :
-
basement membrane
- BTB :
-
blood-testis barrier
- HRP :
-
horseradish peroxidase
References
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This research was supported by a grant from the National Council for Research and Development, Israel, and the GKSS Geesthacht-Tesperhude, Federal Republic of Germany
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Abraham, M., Rahamim, E., Tibika, H. et al. The blood-testis barrier in Aphanius dispar (Teleostei). Cell Tissue Res. 211, 207–214 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236443
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236443