Effect of different methods of germinal cell destruction on rat testis.

Germinal cell aplasia was induced in rats by heat sterilization, fetal irradiation or bilateral cryptorchidism. The influence of these treatments on the plasma concentraiton of LH and FSH, on the levels of sorbitol dehydrogenase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GTP) in the testis and on the weight of androgen target tissues was compared. All these methods damaged the germinal cells but also affected the other tubular cells and the interstitial compartment to a variable degree. Local heating affected plasma LH levels and GTP activity only minimally. Studies of GTP in cell-enriched fractions from the testes of rats with germinal cell aplasia indicated that this enzyme is not a Sertoli cell specific marker.