A Chemical and Histochemical Study on the Significance of the Nonspecific Esterase Activity in the Adult Rat Testis

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Abstract
In frozen sections of fresh and formol-calcium chloride fixed testes 2 functionally different types of nonspecific esterase activity can be demonstrated histochemically using various combinations of the substrates anaphthyl acetate and indoxyl acetate and the inhibitor diethylp-nitrophenyl phosphate (E600). The activity of the majority of interstitial cells (Leydig cells) can be visualized on fresh-frozen sections with α-naphthyl acetate as substrate. This activity decreases markedly after hypophysectomy and is sensitive to 1O-6M concentration of the inhibitor. The Sertoli cells and a few of the interstitial cells (possibly macrophages), on the other hand, prefer indoxyl acetate as substrate and activity is demonstrable only in formalinfixed frozen sections. It resists E600, and the number of cells exhibiting this E600-resistant activity increases greatly after hypophysectomy both in the seminiferous tubules and in the interstitium. In chemical quantitative determinations of testicular nonspecific esterase activity, a gonadotrophin dependence is demonstrable only when p-nitrophenyl propionate is used as substrate. This activity is sensitive to E600 and can be only partly solubilized by homogenization and repeated freezing and thawing. On the other hand, when β-naphthyl acetate is used as a substrate, stronger esterolytic activity is demonstrable. This is still increased by hypophysectomy due to an increased proportion of soluble lyoenzyme of the interstitial macrophages and the Sertoli cells. (Endocrinology79: 294,1966)

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