Comparison of the effect of ischemia and gamma radiation on the ultrastructure of rat testes

Changes are compared in the ultrastructure of the rat testis 30 days after irradiation with a dose of 4.58 Gy (500 R) and after one hour's ischaemia. The ultrastructure of the Sertoli cells testified, in both groups, to an increase in their phagocytic activity. Phagocytosed cell fragments resembling residual bodies, an increase in the number of dense bodies (often containing membranes) and accumulation of fat vacuoles were found in their cytoplasm. These findings were not bound to any given stage of spermatogenesis. Submicroscopic damage to the germ ceils after ischaemia and irradiation differed. Thirty days after ischaemia, no changes were found in the structure of the spermatogonia and spermatocytes and the only anomaly was loss of the central microtubules in the sperm cell tail. After irradiation, changes in ultrastructure and necrotic disintegration were found in the spermatocytes. The spermatids displayed morphological changes in the nucleus, spiralization of the tail, changes in the character of the basic cytoplasm and a general coordination disturbance of processes of spermatohistogenesis. (author)