Unusual germ cell organization in the seminiferous epithelium of a murid rodent from southern Asia, the greater bandicoot rat,Bandicota Indica

Abstract

In the greater bandicoot rat, Bandicota indica, of south-east Asia, nine cell associations were documented in the testicular seminiferous epithelium. In about 10% of the tubule cross sections two or more cell associations occurred and, furthermore, some of the generations of germ cells within the cell associations were sometimes either out of phase, or missing, in the tubule cross sections. These features, together with the fact that this species has a highly pleiomorphic sperm head shape, are somewhat reminiscent of those of the seminiferous epithelium in humans and some other primates but not of common laboratory rodents. This species could thus be a good model for investigating irregular patterns of spermatogenesis in naturally occurring wild species of rodent.

Changes in distribution of basic nuclear proteins and chromatin organization during spermiogenesis in the greater bandicoot rat, Bandicota indica

“…Unlike in most murine rodents that have a falciform-shaped sperm head (see Retzius 1909;Friend 1936;Bishop and Austin 1960), the sperm head in male greater bandicoot rats is globular and more like that in other, distantly related, eutherian mammals, with the shape of the nucleus generally reflecting that of the overall head shape (Breed 1993(Breed , 1998(Breed , 2004Worawittayawong et al 2005). Preliminary observations suggested that, during chromatin condensation, the chromatin organization differed from that of the laboratory rat (Breed 1993(Breed , 1998.…”

“…Unlike most murine rodents in which sperm heads have falciform-shaped nuclei (Retzius 1909;Friend 1936;Bishop and Austin 1960;Lalli and Clermont 1981;Breed 2004), those of the greater bandicoot rat, Bandicota indica, have a globular-shaped nucleus that is capped by an extremely large acrosome (Breed 1993(Breed , 1998(Breed , 2004Worawittayawong et al 2005). The reason for this dramatic difference in sperm nuclear shape is not clear but may be related to differences in sperm chromatin organization and its nuclear protein profile.…”

“…We have previously categorized B. indica spermatids into 12 steps by light microscopy based on their appearance and the patterns of the germ cell associations (Worawittayawong et al 2005). In the present study, we extend these a, b).…”

Seminiferous Epithelium Cycle and Developmental Stages of Spermatids in the Clethrionomys rufocanus

“…Didelphis azarae (Orisi & Ferreira, 1978) and Apodemus agrarius coreae (Lee, 2007) had 10 stages. Bandicota indica (Worawittayawong et al, 2005) and Apodemus speciosus peninsulae (Kim & Lee, 2009) had 9 stages (Table 1). …”

“…Conversely, research on the seminiferous epithelium cycle in mammals such as opossum, Didelphis azarae (Orisi & Ferreira, 1978; Worawittayawong et al, 2005), Watase's shrew, Crocidura watasei (Adachi et al, 1992), Djungarian hamster, Phodophus sungorus sungorus (van Haaster & de Rooij, 1993), Musk shrew, Suncus murinus (Kurohmaru et al, 1994), Japanese shrew mole, Urotrichus talpoides (Mizukami et al, 2001), Mongilian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus (Segatelli et al, 2002), Korean squirrel, Tamias sibiricus (Jung & Lee, 2004), Crocidura shantungensis (Jeong & Lee, 2005), Crocidura dsinezumi (Jeong & Lee, 2006), Apodemus agrarius coreae (Lee, 2007), Apodemus speciosus peninsulae (Kim & Lee, 2009) were previously widely done, but Clethrionomys rufocanus research has not been reported yet. Thus, this study examines the stages of Clethrionomys rufocanus spermatogenesis and investigates its difference with other rodents.…”