Cell Changes in the Testis due to X Rays. 
249 
The hypothesis that the cells of Sertoli have a nutritive and secretory 
function is compatible with and suggested by the structural disposition 
of the cells of the seminiferous tubules. No direct evidence of such nutritive 
function is however obtainable, nor has anv secretion directly attributable 
to the activity of these cells up to the present been collected from the 
seminiferous tubules. A knowledge of the function of these cells is essential 
to a correct Interpretation of the mechanism of production of the changes 
in the germinal cells following upon the application of X rays. 
Method. 
For the purpose of experiment full grown male rats with large festes 
were used. 
The mode of application of X rays was as follows. The animal was 
laid upon its back below the X ray tube, the region of the festes being 
15 cm distant from the anticathode. The rays acted upon this region 
exclusively, the rest of the body of the animal being protected by means 
of a shield of lead sheeting 1,5 mm in thickness. A mercury interruptor 
making from 1200 to 3000 breaks per minute was employed. The primary 
current ranged from three to seven amperes. The coil employed gave a 
12 inch spark and was provided with a spark gap. The X ray tube which 
was used was of moderate hardness and was water cooled. The current 
in the secondary Circuit was usually 0,6 to 0,7 milliamperes, the value of 
fifteen minutes exposure to the rays being ordinarily one unit on the 
scale of Sabouraud. The weakest application employed was about a 
quarter of a unit (15 minutes exposure), the strongest was tw r enty units 
(tw r o exposures of 65 minutes each on the first day, repeated on the second 
day). 
The following was the procedure employed in examining the con- 
dition of the testes. Immediately after the animal had been killed the 
testes were removed and portions of the same fixed in Flemming’s solution 
(strong) for tw r elve to eighteen hours. These w r ere then dehydrated in 
gradually increasing strengths of alcohol and, after passing through cedar 
wood oil, embedded in paraffin and sectioned. 
The sections were stained: 1. by Heidenhain’s iron alum haematoxvlin 
method; and 2. with basic fuchsin, methylene blue, and orange G. In 
carrying out the latter procedure the sections were put for 30 minutes 
into a 0,5% solution of basic fuchsin in 70% alcohol, containing 0,1% 
of anilin and 0,1% of ammonia. The excess of stain was removed in 
running water, after which the sections were immersed in a 4% aqueous 
Archiv f. Zellforschung. VII. 17 
