title: Sertoli cell nuclear pore number changes in some stages of the spermatogenic cycle of the rat seminiferous epithelium.
abstract: In an earlier study we described changes in the number and distribution of nuclear pores during maturation of germ cells at given stages of the spermatogenic cycle; these changes were related to the activity of nucleus-cytoplasm transport. Similarly, the present work was performed by combining freeze-fracture techniques with Sertoli nuclei identification criteria, using fragments of tubules isolated by transillumination under stereomicroscopy. We studied the density of nuclear pores in freeze-fracture replicas of the Sertoli nuclear envelope at stages XIII-XIV-I compared with stages IX-XII. Pore counts were carried out on photographs of the platinum replicas using a digitalized morphometric board. The results were statistically analyzed using Student's t test. The difference in density (pore number/micron2 +/- SEM) was significant between stages IX-XII (8.25 +/- 0.63) and XIII-XIV-I (10.80 +/- 0.60). We postulate that this density appears to be increased at the time of increased metabolic requirements of the Sertoli cell.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Histología y Embriología, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. jccavic@fmed2.uncu.edu.ar
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cavicchia
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Sacerdote
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis / Q000502:physiology; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012670:Seminiferous Epithelium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000502:physiology*