Morphological and quantitative analysis of spermatogonia in mouse testes using whole mounted seminiferous tubules. II. The irradiated testes.

In adult male mice exposed to 300 R X-irradiation, the spermatogonial population was selectively killed except for the radioresistant type As stem cells. Type A spermatogonia were minimal two days after irradiation, when only 20% of the control population was present in stage 5-6; these were predominately single and paired undifferentiated cells. When multiple injections of 3HTdR were given between 2 and 3.5 days post-irradiation, 90-95% of these survivors in stages 4-6 became labeled. Enhanced proliferation of these stem cells, and at times when they were normally quiescent, led to restoration of all classes of spermatogonia by 11 days after irradiation. Several autoradiographic studies were undertaken to better characterize the radioresistant cells. In mice given single or multiple injections of 3HTdR prior to irradiation, there was appreciable retention of label by those type As spermatogonia that had originally incorporated 3HTdR in stages 2-4. This labeling pattern was identical to that of the long-cycling As stem cells in nonirradiated testes. Since the long-cycling As stem cells are thought to be characterized by a prolonged G1 or "A-phase" which is known to be a highly radioresistant portion of the cell cycle, it was clear why these cells could preferentially survive irradiation doses that killed other spermatogonial types. It was proposed that following germ cell depletion, as after irradiation injury, the long-cycling As survivors could be prematurely triggered from A-phase into DNA synthesis, thereby, initiating restoration of the germ cell population.