Cytology and Kinetics of Spermatogenesis in the Rabbit
CYTOLOGY AND KINETICS OF SPERMATOGENESIS IN THE RABBIT E. E. SWIERSTRA and R. H. FOOTE Department of Animal Husbandry, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A. {Received 21st August 1962) Summary. The cycle of the seminiferous epithelium of the rabbit was divided into eight stages, using as criteria the shape of the spermatid nucleus, the location of the spermatids and spermatozoa in regard to the basement membrane, the presence of meiotic figures and the release of spermatozoa from the lumen. The relative duration (frequency) of Stages 1 to 8 were 27-7, 13-4, 7-3, 11-0, 4-1, 15-7, 12-2 and 8-6%, respectively. Each stem cell (Type A spermatogonium) divided to produce two Type A spermatogonia. One of these was the starting cell for the next genera¬ tion, while the other gave rise to two intermediate-type spermatogonia. Three more spermatogonial divisions followed, producing sixteen primary spermatocytes from one Type A spermatogonium, as is characteristic for the bull and the ram, but unlike the rat, mouse and hamster. It was estimated that only 3-1 spermatids were generated from one primary spermatocyte, suggesting that in the rabbit there is considerable degeneration of spermatogenic cells during the two maturation divisions. INTRODUCTION Since the end of the last century, it has been known that well-defined cellular associations succeed one another in time in any one area of the semini¬ ferous tubules, and that along the tubules a more or less regular pattern of cell populations exists (Brown, 1885; Benda, 1887; von Ebner, 1888). This succession of cellular associations at any one location in the seminiferous tubules led to the concept of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium defined by Leblond & Clermont (1952b) as that "series of changes occurring in a given area of the seminiferous epithelium between two successive appearances of the same cellular association".
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