00:01
important to point out their associated with
the testis at this stage. Let’s look at
this seminiferous epithelium. It’s the epithelium,
as I pointed out, that gives rise to spermatozoa.
00:11
On the left-hand side is a section taken through
the testis. You can see a number of profiles
taken through these tubules. And within the tubules,
you can see the epithelial cells, the spermatogenic
cells. You can also see spaces between the
tubules. Some of that space, you can see
connective tissue, which will be part of the
connective tissue septa that creates the lobules.
00:39
Other parts will be what we call interstitial
space. And that interstitial space is very important
that I’ll point out later on because that
interstitial space houses steroid-secreting
cells called Leydig cells. Turn your attention
now to the right hand of the slide and look
at the diagram. That diagram is going to persist
in the next few slides when I describe the
process of spermatogenesis. It first of all,
has on the very base of the diagram a fibroblast
and a basal lamina that represents part of
the wall of each seminiferous tubule.
01:24
And then as you move towards the top of the slide,
it shows you the different processes that
the spermatocytes go through from being a
spermatogonia, the germ cell, until they’re
finally, at the top, released as spermatozoa.
And the different colors there relate to various
stages of their differentiation. They actually
relate to the various stages of the meiotic
process as well that I’ll point out. So
I’m going to go through the next few slides,
and I’m going to point out the histological
characteristics of each of these cells as
they go through the process. And this diagram
is going to be a good guide to explain that.