Codesal J, Regadera J, Nistal M, Regadera-Sejas J, Paniagua R
Department of Morphology, School of Medicine, Autonomous University, Madrid, Spain.
J Anat. 1990 Oct;172:103-14.
The testes of stillborn fetuses (from 13 to 28 weeks of gestational age), fetuses born alive (from 29 weeks of gestational age) who died a few days later, and infants dying 1 to 8 months after birth were processed for light and electron microscopy. Paraffin-embedded material was stained with the avidin-biotin peroxidase complex (ABC) method for immunohistochemical detection of testosterone (T) in order to quantify the age-related changes in the number of T-positive interstitial cells. This number decreased progressively from the 24th week of gestation up to birth and remained unchanged up to the second month of postnatal life. During the third month of age, the number of T-positive cells rose markedly but fell again from the fourth month to the end of the study. The ultrastructural study revealed the following types of interstitial cells at all ages studied: fibroblast-like cells, myofibroblast-like cells, developed fetal Leydig cells, degenerating fetal Leydig cells and infantile Leydig cells with a multilobed nucleus and focal cytoplasmic accumulations of smooth endoplasmic reticulum and lipid droplets. Quantitative ultrastructural studies revealed that the changes in the number of fetal Leydig cells with age were similar to those found in the number of T-positive cells although, for each age studied, absolute values were higher in the ultrastructural study. The number of infantile Leydig cells increased with age.
对死产胎儿（胎龄13至28周）、出生后存活几天死亡的活产胎儿（胎龄29周及以上）以及出生后1至8个月死亡的婴儿的睾丸进行光镜和电镜检查。石蜡包埋材料采用抗生物素蛋白-生物素过氧化物酶复合物（ABC）法染色，用于免疫组化检测睾酮（T），以量化T阳性间质细胞数量与年龄相关的变化。该数量从妊娠第24周直至出生逐渐减少，直至出生后第二个月保持不变。在3月龄时，T阳性细胞数量显著上升，但从4月龄至研究结束再次下降。超微结构研究揭示了在所有研究年龄段的以下几种间质细胞类型：成纤维细胞样细胞、肌成纤维细胞样细胞、发育成熟的胎儿睾丸间质细胞、退化的胎儿睾丸间质细胞以及具有多叶核和光滑内质网及脂滴局灶性胞质聚集的婴儿睾丸间质细胞。定量超微结构研究表明，胎儿睾丸间质细胞数量随年龄的变化与T阳性细胞数量的变化相似，尽管在每个研究年龄，超微结构研究中的绝对值更高。婴儿睾丸间质细胞数量随年龄增加。
