CYTOCHEMICAL-LOCALIZATION OF CATIONS IN THE TESTIS OF THE SYRIAN-HAMSTER, UTILIZING POTASSIUM-PYROANTIMONATE

Pyroantimonate has long been used as a cytochemical technique for the localization of cations. Although the technique was originally alleged to be specific for Na+, other cations, including Mg++, Ba++, Ca++, Zn++ and polycationic amines, form pyroantimonate precipitates. In seminiferous tubules treated with antimonate‐osmium fixation, the nuclei of the Sertoli cells and germ cells contained precipitates. In regions of condensed chromatin the precipitates were dense while, in dispersed chromatin, precipitates were sparse or absent. It is postulated that the dense precipitates observed in the condensed chromatin may represent an accumulation of calcium that may facilitate chromatin condensation. The Sertoli cell nucleolar apparatus contained light precipitates in the pars amorpha, moderate precipitates in the nucleolonema, and heavy precipitates in the perinucleolar heterochromatin bodies. The nuclei of the maturation‐phase spermatids lacked any precipitates. The perinuclear ring of the acrosome‐phase spermatids contained pyroantimonate deposits. In the maturation‐phase spermatids, staining occurred in the postacrosomal dense lamina, in the subacrosomal space between the perforatorium and the inner acrosomal membrane, and in the central mass of the residual bodies. Since the postacrosomal dense lamina is the portion of the spermatozoon that initially fuses with the ovum, it is postulated that its cationic properties in some way facilitate this fusion. Copyright © 1979 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.