ACCESSORY MAMMALIAN REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS 



409 



TABLE 6.7 

 Summary of the effects of testicular androgen on rat and mouse seminal vesicles 



Normal Males 



Castrated Males 



General Characteristics 



Rat and mouse 



mucosa folded; acidophilic secretion in lumen Villous folding reduced; secretion greatly reduced 



columnar epithelial cells: secretion granules supranuclear Cell size reduced; granules lost 



Golgi supranuclear networks \ Reduced in volume; fragmented 



mitochondria as rods or granules ' Apparently reduced in relative numbers (rat) 



nuclei basal; nucleoli prominent I Nuclei shrunken and pyknotic; nucleoli disappear 



stroma of connective tissue and smooth muscle Amount appears increased 



Specific Characteristics 



Rat 

 Histochemical observations : 

 secretion in lumen PAS-positive, intensity variable; acidophilic 



ci//opZasm slight PAS reaction; strongly acid phosphatase-positive; 



strongly basophilic 



secretion granules in epithelium strongly acid phosphatase-positive 



nuclei strong acid phosphatase reaction 



stroma slight PAS reaction; acid phosphatase-positive; strong alkaline 



phosphatase reaction 



Mouse 

 Histochemical observations : 



secretion in lumen moderately PAS-positive and acidophilic 



cytoplasm moderately basophilic at base and lateral margins of cells;. . . 



apical granules acid phosphatase-positive 

 secretion granules in epithelium weakly PAS-positive and acidophilic... 

 Golgi region; granules PAS-positive and acidophilic 

 stroma intensely PAS- and alkaline phosphatase-positive 

 Electron microscopic observations: 

 cytoplasm complex pattern of basal and lateral ergastoplasmic mem- 

 branes; 



Phosphatase activity reduced 



Slight basophilia 



Activity lost 



Remained weakly acid phosphatase-positive 



Acid and alkaline phosphatase activity reduced 



Secretory granules less acidopliili- 

 Weakly basophilic 



abundant RNA-rich granules 



Golgi region; parallel arrays of smooth-surfaced membranes and vesicles 



Reduced in number; less acidophilii 

 Phosphatase activity reduced 



Ergastoplasmic channels less distended and con- 

 torted 

 Relative number reduced 



by vesicular zones are present in the supra- 

 nuclear region (Fig. 6.36) and resemble the 

 secretion in the lumen in staining reactions. 

 The Golgi complex appears in osmium prep- 

 arations as irregular networks or a vesicu- 

 lar structure (Fig. 6.32); the basement 

 membrane is poorly defined or absent 

 (Moore, Hughes and Gallagher, 1930). 



The extracellular secretion is only slightly 

 PAS-positive but varies in the intensity of 

 reaction; there is little reaction in the epi- 

 thelial cells except in some cells with stained 

 granules; fibers of the lamina propria, 

 smooth muscles, and walls of arterioles are 

 weakly reactive (Leblond, 1950; ]\Ielampy 

 and Cavazos, 1953). Stroma and capillaries 

 are strongly alkaline phosphatase-positive 

 (Bern, 1949a; Dempsey, Greep and Deane, 

 1949; :\lelarapy and Cavazos, 1953). The 

 cytoplasm, secretion granules, nuclei, and 

 stroma give an intense acid phosphatase 

 reaction; the cytojilasm is strongly baso- 



philic and the reaction is abolished by ribo- 

 nuclease (]\lelampy and Cavazos, 1953). 



The response to castration is rapid. In 2 

 days the cells are reduced in height mainly 

 by reduction in apical mass ; secretion gran- 

 ules are few, small, and indistinct. By 10 

 days, cells are small, secretion granules are 

 gone, nuclei are small with heavily staining 

 chromatin (Fig. 6.35), and Golgi bodies 

 have begun to fragment; at 20 days, these 

 changes are more advanced and the rem- 

 nant of the Golgi bodies (Fig. 6.33) occu- 

 pies almost the entire supranuclear region 

 (Moore, Hughes and Gallagher, 1930). In 

 a cytometric study, Cavazos and ]\Ielampy 

 (1954) found a statistically significant re- 

 duction in cell height by 6 hours after cas- 

 tration; by 48 hours many nucleoli are 

 smaller than normal and by 60 hours most 

 nucleoli are small; nuclear diameters are 

 reduced but change more slowly. 



