LIPID DISTRIBUTION IN THE SERTOLI CELL AND LEYDIG CELL OF THE RAT TESTIS AS RELATED TO EXPERIMENTAL ALTERATIONS OF THE PITUITARY-GONAD SYSTEM1

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Abstract
Young mature male 200 g. albino rats of the Wistar and Sprague-Dawley strains were treated with androgens and estrogens; groups were also subjected to hypophysectomy, artificially created cryptorchidism, and inanition. The testes of these variously treated rats were weighed, fixed, and sectioned. Alternate sections were stained with Herdenhains and Eosin and Oil Red O stains; the latter to study changes of lipid distr. In the normal testes, the lipid droplets were large and concd. at the basement membrane of the tubule when no spermatozoa were present. As the sperm matured, the droplets became smaller and more numerous and migrated toward the lumen. Hypophysectomy, estrogen admn., artificial cryptorchidism, and inanition resulted in an increased accumulation of lipid in the Sertoli cells. Androgen admn. resulted in some increased Sertoli cell lipid and also caused occasional accumulation of fat-staining material in the Leydig cell. The distr. of the tubular lipid, which appears to be in the Sertoli cells, in relation to the maturing sperm, is compatible with the view that the Sertoli cells have a nutritive function. In the absence of spermatogenesis, whatever the cause, the lipid accumulates in the Sertoli cell adjacent to the basement membrane of the tubule.