Ultrastructure of germ cells and adjacent somatic cells correlated to initiation of meiosis in the fetal pig.

The ultrastructure of female and male germ cells and associated somatic cells were studied in morphologically sex differentiated fetal pig gonads from day 27 to day 95 post insemination. Before meiosis starts in the ovary, the organelles of germ cells and somatic cells of both sexes are poorly developed. In oocytes in leptotene stage, the endoplasmic reticulum attains close proximity to the plasma membrane forming characteristic contact areas which in addition are only seen in male germ cells of the same age. As meiosis progresses, the organelles of the oocyte increase in number and degree of differentiation. In particular the ER is prominent in the diplotene stage. At midgestation the male germ cells become polarized, the organelles gathering at one side of the nucleus. In the granulosa cells the number and extension of organelles increase concomitantly with the oocytes proceeding through meiosis. The Sertoli cells grow progressively complex in shape, with numerous mitochondria and a prominent ER, whereas the Golgi complex remains poorly developed. Small dense bodies are present both in germ cells and somatic cells. They are electron dense, membrane bounded, rounded or elongated granules often connected with endoplasmic reticulum. No activity of peroxidase, catalase or acid phosphatase could be traced in the granules, making them improbable candidates as peroxisomes or lysosomes. Their number is high in all germ cells and somatic cells on day 27 post insemination and in germ cells in leptotene stage.