DEGENERATION OF SERTOLI AND SPERMATOGENIC CELLS IN HOMOZYGOUS AND HETEROZYGOUS WEAVER MICE

In the neurological mutant mouse weaver (wv/wv), the majority of males are infertile due to hypospermatogene sis. Heterozygous weaver mice ( wv/+) cease mating successfully when males reach an average age of 3.5 months. The contents of epididymal fluid were scored for the number o f sperm and sperm motility in wv/wv, wv/+ and controls. Testes were ex amined in mice of the three genotypes at various ages using light and electron microscopy. In wv/+ males, sperm counts were significantly lo wer than in controls and were significantly higher than in wv/wv. The seminiferous epithelium in weaver mice appears depleted soon after pub erty and a wide range of degenerative changes was identified in both g erm cells and Sertoli cells. Analogous cellular aberrations were detec ted in heterozygous males, but they appeared at an older age and were not as severe as in wv/wv. We hypothesize that in weaver homo- and het erozygosity the damage of Sertoli cells may induce degeneration of ger minal cells and particularly affect the most advanced spermatogenic ce lls.