Transitional cells at the junction of seminiferous tubules with the rete testis of the rat: their fine structure, endocytic activity, and basement membrane.

Transitional cells line the intermediate region of rat seminiferous tubules situated between the rete testis and the seminiferous epithelium proper. These tall elongated cells orient themselves in a downstream direction and converge on one another distally in the lumen of the rete testis where they form a distinct papillalike structure through which a narrow patent lumen is apparent. In addition to widely dispersed Golgi apparatus and mitochondria, these cells contain an abundance of microtubules, cisternae of endoplasmic reticulum, and a distinct lobulated nucleus showing clumps of chromatin and a prominent nucleolus. The endocytic activity of these cells was examined by employing adsorptive (cationic ferritin, concanavalin A ferritin) and fluid-phase tracers (native ferritin, horseradish peroxidase-colloidal gold complex, and concanavalin A ferritin in presence of alpha methyl-D-mannoside). Such tracers were injected separately into the lumen of the rete testis, and the animals were killed at 2, 5, 15, and 30 min and 1, 2, and 6 hr after injection. At 2 min, both adsorptive and fluid-phase tracers were found within coated and uncoated pits of the apical plasma membrane of these cells as well as in large, subsurface, uncoated spherical, C-shaped, and tubular membranous elements. At 5 min the tracers were seen in endosomes of different sizes; while at 15 min and 30 min, pale and dense multivesicular bodies of small and large sizes, respectively, were labeled. At 1-hr and longer time intervals secondary lysosomes became labeled. While both fluid-phase and adsorptive tracers followed the same pathway and fate, binding to the apical and lateral plasma membranes of the transitional cells and to the membrane delimiting coated and uncoated pits was observed only with the adsorptive tracers. These results demonstrate that the transitional cells are actively involved in both fluid-phase and adsorptive endocytosis, which may play an important role in modifying the composition of the luminal fluid. The transitional cells of the distal zone of the intermediate region rest on an elaborate basement membrane (BM) complex which includes a thin BM immediately underlying these cells, a thick distal layer of BM, and strands of BM spanning the distance between the two in the form of a loose anastomotic network. Use of antisera against heparan sulfate proteoglycan, laminin, and type IV collagen revealed the presence of all three components within all areas of the BM complex. In the meshes of the anastomotic BM network, extracellular vesicles were observed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)