Surface location and stage-specificity of differentiation antigens on germ cells in the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), as revealed with monoclonal antibodies and immunogold staining.

During development of juvenile and young adult carp (Cyprinus carpio, L., Teleostei) three differentiation stages were distinguished in the testis: the prespermatogenic, the early spermatogenic and the advanced spermatogenic testis. Carp testis tissue of these stages was dissociated by enzymatic digestion and viable testis cells with well preserved morphological features were obtained. The surface location and stage-specificity of differentiation antigens on these germ cells was investigated using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) raised against carp spermatozoa. Binding of MAbs to cells was visualized with immunofluorescence as well as in the immunogold staining assay. Both methods revealed that antigenic determinants defined by seven MAbs were located on the outer surface of testis cells. Four MAbs, i.e. WCS 3, 17, 28 and 29, reacted with germ cells from both pre-spermatogenic testes (WCS 28 weakly) and spermatogenic testes. The antigenic determinants defined by three other MAbs, i.e. WCS 7, 11 and 12, appeared only after the onset of spermatogenesis. In the immunogold staining assay a post-fixation and nuclear staining procedure was developed which allowed identification of isolated germ cells, revealing clearly, for all seven MAbs, that the determinants were expressed on germ cells but not on somatic cells and, for WCS 7, 11 and 12 only, that the determinants first appeared on small spermatogonia prior to meiosis. A survey of the immunogold assay on the binding of the seven MAbs with isolated germ cells from ovaries, is included.