Ultrastructural Characteristics of the Testicular Interstitial Endocrinocytes of Adult Rats Subjected to Total Sialoadenectomy

Abstract

The major salivary glands of rats release into the saliva and blood a wide spectrum of bioactive substances, essential for many organs, including the testes. Sialoadenectomy leads to the development of degenerative changes in the cells of the twisted testicular tubules. However, the effects of bioactive factors released by the major salivary glands on the morphology and function of Leydig cells remain little studied. Sialoadenectomy in adult rats led (in 1-4 weeks) to a decrease in the nuclear and cytoplasmatic areas of Leydig cells, violation of the plasmalemma integrity, dilatation of perinuclear space and agranular endoplasmatic reticulum vesicles, and to destruction of the mitochondria. Ultrastructural changes caused by sialoadenectomy completely resolved by week 6 of the experiment at the expense of compensatory activation of the synthesis of the major salivary gland factors by other sources in the organism of rats.