Varicose axons bearing "synaptic" vesicles on the basal lamina of the human seminiferous tubules.

Abstract

Normal (infant and adult) and pathological testes were examined by electron microscopy in order to study testicular innervation. Nerves composed of non-myelinated fibres were abundant in the tunica vasculosa of the tunica albuginea. These nerves penetrated into the testicular septa reaching the interstitial tissue. This showed numerous non-myelinated nerve fibres running among the Leydig cells and blood vessels. Single axons or small groups of them, partially surrounded by Schwann cells, approached: 1) the Leydig cells, 2) the interstitial blood vessels, and 3) the seminiferous tubules. Single naked axons were also observed primarily in the proximity of the seminiferous tubules. These axons showed varicosities containing both small and large "synaptic" vesicles. The latter were less numerous and contained a central dense core. Small vesicles were agranular. Some varicose axons ran across the myofibroblast layer of the tunica propria reaching the basal lamina of the seminiferous tubules at the level of the Sertoli cells but not at the level of the spermatogonia. The intercellular space between Sertoli cell and axon membrane was about 150-200 nm.