Growth and observations of chinese hamster seminiferous epithelium in vitro

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Abstract
Seminiferous tubules from 1- to 3·5-month-old Chinese hamsters were cultivated under dialysis membranes in Rose chambers. The growth and development of the germinal cells was followed daily with phase-contrast microscopy and time-lapse cinemicrography. Spermatogonia lived for 2 or 3 weeks and underwent frequent mitoses. Spermatocytes in metaphase at culture initiation completed their meiotic division. These cells remained healthy for 3–4 days. Such phenomena as germinal cell/Sertoli cell association, nuclear rotation, multinucleated cell formation and spermatid formation were studied and photographed.