Morphological Features of The Seminiferous Epithelium in Cat (<i>Felis catus</i>, L. 1758) Testes

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the changes in the germinal epithelium in cats of different ages. Routine histological staining was applied to perform morphological and stereological examinations. The animals were divided into five groups according to age: under 8 months (n=28), 8-12 months (n=30), 12-36 months (n=33), 3-6 years (n=14) and older than 6 years (n=13). The appearance of the gonads of the males in the first group varied the most. The seminiferous tubules of the youngest cats consisted of a monolayer of supporting cells and a few spermatogonia. No tubular lumina were present, and the diameters of the seminiferous tubules reached 132.5 microm. We noted the typical arrangement of gametogenic cells with a tubule diameter of 191.83 microm in the second group. We observed multilayer germinal epithelia with the most significant production of gametes and a seminiferous tubule diameter of 202.61 microm in the third group. The diameters of the seminiferous tubules of the forth and fifth groups were 193.38 microm and 191.84 microm, respectively. The obtained data revealed that the most intensive morphological diversification of the seminiferous epithelium in cats occurs at about 7-8 months of age. The diameters of seminiferous tubules were highest in the third group of cats, and the activity of spermatogenesis of this group, expressed as the number of sperm per 10 mm(2), was also the most distinctive. The spermatogenesis process was most evident in cats between 12 and 36 months of age, which was also when the sperm concentration was highest per estimated surface.