Freeze-fracture study of cell junctions in the epididymis and vas deferens of a seasonal breeder: the mink (Mustela vison).

The present study used the freeze-fracture technique and vascular infusion of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as a junction permeability tracer, visible in thin sections, to investigate potential seasonal variations in the mink epididymis and vas deferens cell junctions. The junctions were studied in kits during the neonatal period, during and after puberty, and during adulthood monthly throughout the annual reproductive cycle. Results showed the existence, at the time of birth, of a junctional complex joining ductal cells that reached the lumen of the epididymis and vas deferens. The lumenal impermeable segment of the junctional complex was characterized by the presence of an occluding zonule made up of continuous tight junctional ridges extending around the perimeter of the cell. The basal permeable segment of the junctional complex contained mainly discontinuous ridges with frequent forming gap and tight junctions next to adhering junctions. Receding annular junctions were present in the apical and lateral cytoplasm of principal and clear cells. The membrane domain apical to the occluding zonule bore 30-35 nm exo/endocytosis blebs and 40-60 crenations associated with deforming tight and gap junctions made up of randomly scattered particles. Patterns of junctional strands varied greatly from one principal and/or clear cell to another. However, cell junctions did not significantly vary from the neonatal period to adulthood nor from breeding to testicular regression. Anatomical subdivisions of the epididymis with fewer junctional strands per zonule and high diversity in their patterns exhibit no permeability differences to HRP when compared with subdivisions containing more numerous strands. The junctions were impermeable during the neonatal period and throughout the annual reproductive cycle. The following conclusions were reached: 1) a competent occluding zonule developed in the mink epididymis and vas deferens before it did in the testis; 2) the number of strands and the diversity of patterns did not correlate with permeability differences; 3) after the development of a lumen in the testicular excurrent duct, neither receding cellular changes caused by testicular regression nor seasonal passage of a bolus of sperm through the duct modified the occluding zonules; and 4) in the testicular excurrent duct, junction modulation (i.e., formation and deformation) paralleled that in the testis and followed the direction of the synthesis-transport-secretion process.