Maekawa M, Kazama H, Kamimura K, Nagano T
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
Anat Rec. 1995 Jan;241(1):59-69. doi: 10.1002/ar.1092410109.
Abundant actin filaments are present in myoid cells and Sertoli cells in the testis. In the adult rat, the filaments form a lattice arrangement within the myoid cell, and show a hexagonal pattern in the basal junctional regions of Sertoli cells.
Isolated seminiferous tubules and frozen sections were prepared from juvenile to adult Wistar rat testes, stained with FITC-conjugated phalloidin, and observed by confocal microscopy. Unilateral cryptorchidism was induced in adult rats, and seven days later, their testes were also examined.
In the myoid cell, parallel actin filaments running circularly around the seminiferous tubules were observed at 15 and 20 days of age. Then, at 30 days, actin filaments arranged longitudinally along the tubular long axis appeared in addition to the circular bundles. A lattice arrangement of actin-filament bundles in myoid cells became obvious at 40 days, when elongated spermatids are found in the tubule. Actin filaments in the basal junctional regions of Sertoli cells did not acquire the hexagonal pattern seen in the adult testis until 30 days of age. In the cryptorchid testes, the arrangement of actin filaments in the both cells showed a remarkable change compared to the control testis; the filaments became thinner and disrupted.
A lattice arrangement of the actin filaments in the myoid cell appear at around 30 days, before the completion of spermatogenesis. A hexagonal pattern of the filaments in the junctional regions of Sertoli cells has already developed at this age. Cryptorchidism affects the actin filaments of the both cells.
睾丸的肌样细胞和支持细胞中存在大量肌动蛋白丝。在成年大鼠中，这些丝在肌样细胞内形成晶格排列，并在支持细胞的基底连接区域呈现六边形图案。
从幼年到成年的Wistar大鼠睾丸制备分离的生精小管和冰冻切片，用异硫氰酸荧光素（FITC）偶联的鬼笔环肽染色，并用共聚焦显微镜观察。对成年大鼠诱导单侧隐睾，7天后也对其睾丸进行检查。
在15和20日龄时，在肌样细胞中观察到平行于生精小管呈环状排列的肌动蛋白丝。然后，在30日龄时，除了环状束外，还出现了沿小管长轴纵向排列的肌动蛋白丝。当在小管中发现伸长的精子细胞时，肌样细胞中肌动蛋白丝束的晶格排列在40日龄时变得明显。支持细胞基底连接区域的肌动蛋白丝直到30日龄才呈现出成年睾丸中所见的六边形图案。在隐睾睾丸中，与对照睾丸相比，这两种细胞中肌动蛋白丝的排列都发生了显著变化；这些丝变得更细且紊乱。
肌样细胞中肌动蛋白丝的晶格排列在生精完成前约30日龄时出现。此时，支持细胞连接区域中丝的六边形图案已经形成。隐睾会影响这两种细胞的肌动蛋白丝。
