Development of agranular reticulum in Sertoli cells of the testis of the dogfish Squalus acanthias during spermatogenesis

Biochemical analyses of Squalus testis indicates that key enzymes involved with androgen production increase progressively from immature regions containing spermatogonia to mature regions in the late spermatid stage of maturation (Canick et al., 1983). In an effort to identify cells possessing the cytological characteristics of steroid production and to determine the structural correlates of the observed functional changes, we have carried out an electron microscopic study of Squalus testis. This report demonstrates that Sertoli cells contain a well-developed agranular reticulum, mitochondria with tubulovesicular cristae, and numerous lipid droplets. Moreover, as germ cells mature, there is an increase in abundance of agranular reticulum in the adjacent Sertoli cells. By the time of spermatid elongation, this has reached dramatic proportions and fills the Sertoli cell as a mass of tubules. These results lead us to conclude that the Sertoli cell is responsible for secretion of the increasing amounts of androgen during the spermatogenetic cycle in Squalus.