1. Studies on the Golgi bodies, the mitochondria and the special granules in the Sertoli cells were made. White rats and mice were used mainly as the material. Besides, cattle, dogs, pigs, rabbits and guinea pigs were employed for the purpose of comparison.
2. The Golgi apparatus of the Sertoli cells consists of separate Golgi bodies. Of these, there are two distinct types, the larger and the smaller. Golgi bodies of the larger type are found near the basal end of the cells, while those of the smaller are evenly distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Both of them consists of an externum, impregnable with silver or osmium, and an internum which is not, though with exceptions, blackened by either of them. The binary nature of the smaller Golgi bodies is also revealed in living cells under the phase microscope.
3. The Golgi bodies in the Sertoli cell are lacking or very few when the sperms are free in the lumen. They appear or increase in number with the formation of the spermatids of the following period and their number is the largest about the time when typical sperm heads are shaped. Then, they begin to decrease again when mature sperms move lumenwards. Thus, it may be said that they are more abundant when the Sertoli cell is physiologically active.
4. Throughout the present work no typical Golgi networks are found. In metallic impregnation slides, the Golgi bodies of the smaller type are spherules, platelets and filaments with bizarre contours and those of the larger are globules with elaborate processes. These varied forms are interpreted to be a result of manifold variations in form during the fixation, undergone by the Golgi bodies, which are spherical droplets, constituted mainly of lipoid, in the living cells. This is shown to be the case by the experiment of myelin figure formation. The lipoidal nature of the Golgi bodies are evident, as they are stained with Sudan black and by Ciaccio's, Smith-Dietlich's and Yamada-Hotta's methods.
5. The mitochondria of the Sertoli cells are either rods or spherules in form and are evenly distributed throughout the cytoplasm, Closer observation reveals, however, that they are arranged in rows parallel to the proximodistal axis of the cell. Sometimes, mitochondrial rows are seen to be in direct continuity between two adjacent Sertoli cells, proving that there exists a real cytoplasmic connection between them. There is no difference as regards the form, the distribution and the orientation in the cell and the stainability of the mitochondria in different stages of the spermatogenesis.
6. There are special granules, about 10 micron in diameter, in the the Sertoli cell, which are stained vigorously with neutral red. They are supposed to be related to the function of the Sertoli cell of disposing of the bits of cytoplasm, which are cast off by the spermatids during the spermiogenesis.
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