Spermatogenesis and 3β-HSDH activity in the testis of the axolotl

Abstract

THERE has long been considerable debate over the functions of various hormones in promoting or maintaining Spermatogenesis. Much of the work in this field has been carried out on mammals, where interpretation is especially difficult because of the heterogeneous content of the seminiferous tubules¹. Although a more favourable situation prevails in some sub-mammalia as lower amphibia^2,3 and fishes^4,5 for example, little use seems to have been made of the urodele testis as a model for studies of this type. I present here a short account of Spermatogenesis in the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), which seems to be particularly suitable for this purpose. In addition to the more usual histological procedures, samples of the tissues were incubated with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) or Δ⁵-pregnenolone, in the presence of NAD as carrier and NBT as acceptor for hydrogen (without further staining) in order to demonstrate Δ⁵-3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSDH) activity, according to the method described by Baillie et al.⁶.