Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, Vol s3-97, 487-497, Copyright © 1956 by Company of Biologists

The Structure of the Germinal Epithelium of the Fowl Testis with Speical Reference to the Presence of Multinuclear Cells

¹ Poultry Research Centre, King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh 9

The effects of histological fluids on the cells of the germinal epithelium of the fowl testis have been studied with a view to confirming the fact, evident from studies of living cells, that the formation of multinuclear cells in the process of spermatogenesis is a normal occurrence. It is considered that in the most rapidly dividing germ-cells the cytoplasm is not in a very concentrated state and the usual methods of fixation, by diffusing fluids into the testis, result in disruption of the cytoplasm, especially in multinuclear cells. Methods of fixation were selected which preserved the latter in sufficient numbers to follow their development. It appears that the two secondary spermatocyte nuclei, produced after the first meiotic division of the primary spermatocyte, tend to remain together forming a binucleate cell, which becomes four-nuclear after the second meiotic division. These nuclei, now haploid, are capable of frequent multiplication within the cell before each, then designated a spermatid, eventually becomes transformed into a spermatozoon. The significance of post-meiotic multiplication is discussed.