The distribution of BI integrin and fibronection in spermatogenic cells in testes

110 VIII. SUMMARY Fibronectin takes place in cell-cell interaction and is an important connective component of extracellular matrix. Fibronectin interacts with its receptor, pi integrin, and takes place in cell adhesion, migration and proliferation. In this study, we examined the distribution of fibronectin and pi integrin of testis tissues in different developmental stages with immunohistochemical methods. The best fibronectin reactions occured in peritubular area, basal membrane and myoid cell layer and these reactions became more apparent in later stages. Besides we observed that there was no reaction in seminiferous tubule epithelium till adult stage. In adult rat testis tissue, fibronectin immune staining was mild to weak in cell layers of seminiferous epithelium. pi integrin immune staining was diffusely strong in peritubular tissue and spermatogonia from seminiferous epithelium. Reaction was restricted to cytoplasm and membranes of the germinal cells. As a result, we can conclude that fibronectin in testis is more functional in cell-basal membrane and basal membrane-interstitial tissue interaction than cell- cell interaction; and pi integrin is essential in cell-cell interaction and spermatogenesis.