Pelletier R M, Friend D S
J Androl. 1986 May-Jun;7(3):127-39. doi: 10.1002/j.1939-4640.1986.tb00895.x.
The effect of gossypol, an experimental male contraceptive agent, on the development and maintenance of the blood-testis barrier was determined by feeding gossypol daily to prepubertal and adult guinea pigs, and then examining their testes by electron microscopy of thin sections and freeze-fracture replicas. In guinea pigs of 10 to 30 and 10 to 40 days of age that were fed gossypol, impermeable continuous junctional zones did not develop between adjacent Sertoli cells. Compartmentalization of germ cells in the seminiferous epithelium, therefore, was nonexistent. These findings were obtained by use of the sterol-binding polyene, filipin, used as a low molecular weight tracer in combination with freeze-fracture. In general, the seminiferous tubules lacked lumina and spermatogenesis did not progress beyond the pachytene spermatocyte stage. In adult guinea pigs fed gossypol daily for five weeks, continuous zonules at the base of the seminiferous epithelium appeared intact and were impermeable to filipin. Discontinuous zonules found higher in the epithelium showed distensions between interrupted junctional strands and were permeated by filipin. In addition, vacuolated spaces between Sertoli cells and clumps of heterochromatin were conspicuous in some of the Sertoli cell nuclei. Spermatogenesis was disturbed in about 10% of the seminiferous tubules examined. These perturbations included exfoliation of round and elongated spermatids with concomitant formation of multi-nucleated giant cells. Spermatozoa from these adult male guinea pigs were immotile. These findings suggest that, in neonatal animals, gossypol appears to prevent the maturation of Sertoli cells and this effect is expressed as the failure of focal Sertoli cell tight junctional strands to assemble into continuous zonules. In adult animals, gossypol appears to have no effect on the maintenance of the blood-testis barrier.
通过每天给青春期前和成年豚鼠喂食棉酚，并随后用超薄切片和冷冻蚀刻复型的电子显微镜检查其睾丸，来确定实验性男性避孕药物棉酚对血睾屏障发育和维持的影响。在10至30日龄和10至40日龄喂食棉酚的豚鼠中，相邻支持细胞之间未形成不可渗透的连续连接区。因此，生精上皮中生殖细胞的分隔不存在。这些发现是通过使用甾醇结合多烯制霉菌素作为低分子量示踪剂并结合冷冻蚀刻获得的。一般来说，生精小管缺乏管腔，精子发生没有进展到粗线期精母细胞阶段之后。在每天喂食棉酚五周的成年豚鼠中，生精上皮基部的连续小带看起来完整，对制霉菌素不可渗透。在上皮较高位置发现的间断小带显示间断连接链之间有扩张，并被制霉菌素渗透。此外，支持细胞核中支持细胞之间的空泡状间隙和异染色质团块很明显。在所检查的约10%的生精小管中，精子发生受到干扰。这些扰动包括圆形和延长的精子脱落，同时形成多核巨细胞。这些成年雄性豚鼠的精子没有活力。这些发现表明，在新生动物中，棉酚似乎会阻止支持细胞的成熟，这种作用表现为局部支持细胞紧密连接链未能组装成连续小带。在成年动物中，棉酚似乎对血睾屏障的维持没有影响。
