Histomorphometric and immunohistochemical evaluation of the testes and blood-testis barrier in postnatal period in rats

The main function of male reproductive system is not only to produce sperms but also to transfer these sperms to female vajina. To carry out these functions, male reproductive system have four different type of structures. These structures are testes, accessories ducts, accessorius glands and penis. While testes produce sperm and testosterone which is the primary male sex hormone, accessories ducts store the secretions located in testes or accessories glands and they transport these secretions to penis. The aim of our study is to examine the testes, one of the main part of male reproductive systems, histomorphologicaly at different developmental times after the post natal period and also to determine the period in which the development of blood-testis barrier formed by Sertoli cells was accomplished. 24 Sprague-Dawley types of male rats which are during the postnatal period in the 14th, 30th, 60th and 90 days were used in this study. The development and histological structure of blood-testis barrier were investigated by labeling the obtained testes sections using hematoxylin-eosin, cadherin and claudin dyes. Furthermore, after the examination of the development and organization of the other components of testis which are spermatogoniums, sertoli and Leydig cells, the changes were histomorphologically determined in the seminiferrous tubeles at the developmental stages. According to the obtained results on rats, the sperm production process do not start in utero life and even the sperm production do not take place at 14 th day after the birth. We thought that spermatogenetic process started less than 30 days ago and it depends on the age. By the help of claudin and pan cadherin primer anticor and the existence of blood-testis barrier enable us to detect the functional testis settlement in 60 days rats. Besides, the obtained settlement findings did not show significant difference in the upcoming days.