Summary
Two variants of a method for determining the quantitative structure of the human seminiferous epithelium are described. Both versions (counting cells in whole tubules and in CA's) utilize specific criteria for the identification of cells, tubules and /or CA's. Both methods utilize the Sertoli cell as a constant with the cell types expressed as numbers of cells per Sertoli cell. One hundred biopsies were quantitated by the tubular method and 100 by the CA method. Counts were found to be reproducible and consistent. Comparisons were made between the two methods, different individuals doing the quantitation, quantitations of the right and left testes of the same subject and between biopsies from the same subject taken at different times. No difference was found between the right and left testes or biopsies from the same subject taken at different times. Quantitation of biopsies from one individual before and after testicular X-ray irradiation show how the method can be applied.
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This investigation was supported in part by U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(45-1)1780 and Grant No. 680-0806 from The Ford Foundation.
The authors wish to express their thanks and appreciation to Dr. Yves Clermont (Montreal) and Dr. Eugene Oakberg (Oak Ridge) for their aid in the conception of the project and the general outline of the protocol, and again to the latter for personally performing some of the tubular counts once the method had been established, to Mr. Malcom Hobbs for assistance with the subjects, to Dr. Daniel DiIaconi for performing the biopsy technique and to Dr. Kathleen O'Keefe for the statistical analysis.
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Rowley, M.J., Heller, C.G. Quantitation of the cells of the seminiferous epithelium of the human testis employing the Sertoli cell as a constant. Z. Zellforsch. 115, 461–472 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335713
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335713