Summary
Interstitial tissue from 14 normal, sexually mature rabbits was examined in the electron microscope. A short description is given of the basement membrane of the seminiferous tubules and the contractile cells, which are connected with it.
Four different interstitial cell types are described: immature interstitial cells, light interstitial cells, dark interstitial cells, and interstitial cells containing lipopigments. Indifferent mesenchymal cells are the probable origin of immature interstitial cells which transform to light interstitial cells. The latter ones seem to be the most active cells judging from their ultrastructure. The dark interstitial cells are degenerating light cells. The sporadically occuring cells containing pigments are thought to be expended interstitial cells which have not degenerated and which are perhaps returning to a lower stage of differentiation.
In the mature interstitial cells, the agranular endoplasmic reticulum is the most prominent structure with the exception of the mitochondria. It is vesicular after osmium fixation and tubular after permanganate fixation and occurs in two modifications. The influence of different fixation fluids and embedding media on its structure is discussed.
The mitochondria of mature interstitial cells reach a considerable size and have a tubular inner structure similar to the mitochondria of many steroid hormone producing cells. During the development from indifferent mesenchymal cells to mature cell, the mitochondria increase in size and the cristae are replaced by tubules. A possible chain of development: Golgi vesicle — microbody — mitochondrion is also discussed.
The dark interstitial cells differ from the light ones in that they show a higher degree of osmiophilia and more irregular surfaces. The former very often show degenerating mitochondria which contain structures reminiscent of lipopigments. The pigment cell type is very similar to the immature interstitial cell except for its content of lipopigments.
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Crabo, B. Fine structure of the interstitial cells of the rabbit testes. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 61, 587–604 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344002
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344002