In the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), pubertal
establishment of spermatogenesis includes a defined
period (d 26–30 of life) during which elongation of spermatids is
selectively arrested. The resulting
appearance of germ cell associations not conforming to stage and the phenomenon
of desynchronisation-related germ cell degeneration are analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively
by means of light and
‘retrospective’ electron microscopy. From d 26 onwards, the
portion of tubules containing non-stage
conforming germ cell associations gradually increases up to 37.5% of sectioned
tubules on d 32.
Concomitantly, the degree of desynchronisation rises to a maturational
gap between spermatids and
associated younger germ cells of 7 stages of the seminiferous epithelium
cycle, i.e. of fully half a cycle.
Beyond d 32, the frequency of desynchronised tubule segments decreases
again. Some of the arrested round
spermatids and, eventually, all belatedly elongating spermatids degenerate
and are lost from the epithelium.
Thus a regular maturation of advanced spermatids does not succeed under
non-stage conforming conditions.
Possibly it is not the desynchronisation between the associated germ cell
generations and the spermatids by
itself that impedes normal further development of the latter cells. Instead
this may be due to the
maturational delay of the stage-aberrant cells by several stages compared
to the seminiferous epithelium as a
whole and, especially, in relation to the stage-conditioned functional
state of the neighbouring Sertoli cells.