168 The Development of the Interstitial Cells of Leydig 



Hansemann ' regards it as certain that Leydig's interstitial suhstance 

 belongs to the connective-tissne gronp, because he believed he could 

 demonstrate an intracellular substance with Van Gieson's stain. He 

 made the interesting observation that in the hibernating marmot no 

 Lej^dig's cells were present, and that evidences of spermatogenesis were 

 also lacking during that period: whereas in the waking animal the cells 

 were present in such large numbers as to produce a picture resembling 

 large-celled sarcoma. These observations, together with those of others 

 upon fat and pigment contained in the cells, lead him to conclude that 

 Leydig's cells constitute a distinct organ. 



In 1896, Fr. Eeinke ' made the discovery of crystalloids in Leydig's 

 cells. He found that these bodies were absent before puberty, present 

 in large number during active sexual life, and again absent in old age. 



Von Bardeleben,^ from whose article the references to the earlier litera- 

 ture were taken, studied Leydig's cells in the teste's of criminals, the 

 organs being removed immediately after execution. He was impressed 

 by the epithelial appearance of the cells, and noted that the cell-margins 

 were not smooth, but rather serrated — the expression of intercellular 

 bridges connecting adjacent cells. He found no intercellular substance, 

 properly speaking, and no mitotic figures, though frequently he saw evi- 

 dences of direct division. He thinks that Leydig's cells are almost iden- 

 tical in appearance with the Sertoli cells of the seminal tubules, and be- 

 lieves that they are in fact youthful forms of Sertoli cells. They are 

 capable, he says, of passing through the walls of the tubules, there to 

 become Sertoli cells and take the place of such as are worn out in the 

 performance of their function. In the last analysis, according to him, 

 Leydig's cells are epithelial in nature, and are derived from the germinal 

 epithelium. 



J. Plato * describes minute canals in the walls of the seminal tubules 

 through which, he thinks, fat and pigment from the interstitial cells 

 stream into the Sertoli cells, to be used as pabulum in spermatogenesis. 

 To support this hypothesis he undertook a study of the development of 



* Ueber die grossen Zwischenzellen des Hodens. Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol., 

 Leipzig, 1895, Physiol. Abth., p. 176. 



^ Beitraege zur Histologie des Menschen. Arch. f. mikr. Anat., Bonn, 1896, 

 Bd. XLVII, p. 34. 



' Beitraege zur Histologie des Hodens und zur Spermatogenese beim Men- 

 schen. Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol., Anat. Abth., Supplement-Band, Leipzig, 

 1897, p. 193. 



* Die interstitiellen Zellen des Hodens und ihre physiologische Bedeutung. 

 Arch. f. mikr. Anat., Bonn, 1897, Bd. XLVIII, p. 280. 



