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MICROPUNCTURE STUDY OF THE FLUID COMPOSITION OF `SERTOLI CELL-ONLY' SEMINIFEROUS TUBULES IN RATS

Department of Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, N.Y. 10016, U.S.A.

(Received 19th November 1974)

Fluid collected by micropuncture from individual seminiferous tubules of rats contains a potassium ion concentration about ten times greater than that found in plasma, and a sodium ion concentration about 30 mequiv./litre less than that found in plasma (Tuck, Setchell, Waites & Young, 1970; Levine & Marsh, 1971). Tuck et al. (1970) also observed that the potassium ion concentration of fluid secreted into oil-filled seminiferous tubules was double that found under normal conditions, and the sodium ion concentration was a third of the value normally found. These authors suggest that the seminiferous epithelium normally secretes a potassium-rich solution (about 100 mequiv./litre) which is mixed in the tubule with a sodium-rich low potassium-containing fluid secreted by the rete testis. Tuck et al. (1970) further postulate that it is the Sertoli cells that are