THE ROLE OF CHROMATOID BODIES AND CYTOSKELETON
FOR DIFFERENTIATION OF RAT SPERMATOZOIDS
E.S. Snigirevskaya,1 M.I. Mosevitsky,2 Ya.Yu. Komissarchik 1
1 Institute of Cytology RAS, St. Petersburg, and 2 St. Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics RAS, Gatchina;
1 e-mail: snigir@mail.cytspb.rssi.ru
The ultrastructural and immunocytochemical study of rat male germ cells on different developing stages
has been made. The investigation of morphological changes of spermatogenic cells has demonstrated the presence
of tight connections between chromatoid bodies (CBs) and other cell organelles, particularly with the nucleus
and Golgi apparatus; has revealed the association of manchette noncentrosomal microtubules (MT) with spermatid
perinuclear ring plasma membrane (PM) in the zone of the adhesion intercellular contact—zonula adhaerens
(ZA). The comparison of the results obtained in this work with available literary data has given possibility
to analyze expected pathways of noncentrosomal MT nucleation in the late spermatids. This paper puts the supposition
that noncentrosomal MTs are nucleated on the sites of perinuclear ring ZA. The immunocytochemical
analysis discovered two novel proteins for these cells — BASP1 and MARCKS. It has been shown that these
proteins present in the CBs in the early spermatids. During the spermatozoid differentiation these proteins are
revealed along the outer dense fibers (ODFs) of the sperm tail. BASP1 and MARCKS are supposed to involve in
the processes of calcium accumulation in the CBs and ODFs. Calcium ions seem to play the significant role in
RNA processing and protein synthesis in spermatids. Calcium is also necessary for the mobility of sperms which
is mainly determined by ODFs.
Key words: rat spermatogenesis. chromatoid body, outer dense fibers, microtubules, manchette, BASP1, MARCKS
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