The ultrastructure of the testis of the domestic fowl showing salt-induced cystic dilations of the seminiferous tubules.
It has previously been shown that there is a marked tendency to develop severe cystic dilatation of the seminiferous tubules among broiler chicks fed from hatching on a diet with a high salt content. At the ultrastructural level an early morphological manifestation of this condition is the development in the peritubular boundary tissue of a fibrous lamellar organisation, particularly with respect to collagen deposition, that is of a more adult type than is normal in 3-week-old chicks. The first indication of any response in the seminiferous epithelium is an increase in the incidence of lipid bodies and lysosomal elements. Further images indicate the formation of a tubule lumen. Later the centre of the tubule is filled with cell debris and the peripheral epithelial cells show a variety of images from normal Sertoli and germ cells to cells with a highly vesicular cytoplasm and disrupted cellular organelles. A dilated tubule with a single layer of squamous to columnar epithelial cells lining it is the most commonly observed image in cystic tubules. Severe degeneration and even total breakdown of this layer of cells are also observed. Possible modes of formation of these cysts are discussed.
Rothwell
B
B
Agricultural Research Council's, Poultry Research Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland.