Studies on spermatogenesis in rats. V. Increased thermal lability of lysosomes from testicular germinal cells and its possible relationship to impairments in spermatogenesis in cryptorchidism.

Lysosome-rich particles prepared from adult rat testes but not from liver released large amounts of various lysosomal enzymes into the supernatant medium when they were incubated at 37” at physiological PH. Evidence was presented that the thermally sensitive lysosomes were present in advanced germinal cells but not in spermatogonia. Lysosomal rich particles isolated from regressed testes, obtained from rats which previously had been hypophysectomized or made cryptorchid, were as temperature-insensitive as those from liver. The hypothesis was advanced that the increased release of hydrolytic enzymes at 37” from lysosomes in certain germinal epithelial cells may be intimately associated with the cellular degeneration and cessation of spermatogenesis which occur in cryptorchid testes.