Spermatogonial multiplication in the Chinese hamster. I. Cell cycle properties and synchronization of differentiating spermatogonia.

The cell cycle properties of the six successive generations of differentiating spermatogonia in the Chinese hamster were analysed by the fraction of labelled mitoses technique (FLM). Except for the A1 spermatogonia most of which have a longer cell cycle time (Tc), Tc was found to be c. 60 hr for all types of differentiating spermatogonia. As in the mouse and the rat this represents c. 14% of the duration of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium. With ongoing differentiation, ts of the differentiating spermatogonia increases from 14 to 25 hr, while tG2 shortens from 22 to 10 hr, ts + tG2 remaining at around 35 hr throughout. Autoradiography of whole mounted seminiferous tubules at 1 hr after injection of [3H]thymidine, and experiments with Ara-C revealed that the differentiating spermatogonia traverse S in sharply defined tubular segments. Thus adjacent clones of differentiating spermatogonia start and finish their S phase at virtually the same moment. This synchronization is not yet fully established among the first generation, as clones of A1 spermatogonia in the S phase were found intermingled with A1 cells in other phases of the cell cycle. Since there is little variation in tS and tG2 in the A1 spermatogonia, it was concluded that adjacent clones of A2 spermatogonia do not always arise at the same moment. Yet A2 spermatogonia do start S synchronously, and the FLM study confirms the expected variability in their tG1. A hypothesis is proposed that each generation of differentiating spermatogonia receives a stimulus to divide from outside the spermatogonial compartment. This would ensure the synchronous behaviour of adjacent clones and the strict relationship of the pattern of proliferation to the stages of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium.