Steroidogenic and Structural Differentiation of New Leydig Cell Population Following Exposure of Adult Rats to Ethane Dimethanesulphonate

Bakalska, Mariana; Koeva, I.; Atanassova, N.; Angelova, P.; Nikolov, B.; Davidoff, M.

doi:10.14712/fb2002048050205

Fol. Biol. 2002, 48, 205-209

https://doi.org/10.14712/fb2002048050205

Steroidogenic and Structural Differentiation of New Leydig Cell Population Following Exposure of Adult Rats to Ethane Dimethanesulphonate

Mariana Bakalska¹, I. Koeva², N. Atanassova¹, P. Angelova¹, B. Nikolov¹, M. Davidoff³

¹Institute of Experimental Morphology and Anthropology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
²Department of Histology and Embryology, Higher Medical Institute, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
³Institute of Anatomy, University of Hamburg, Germany

Received December 2001
Accepted May 2002

EDS alkylating agent has been shown to selectively and temporarily kill LCs in adult rats. The first newly formed single LCs appeared at 14th day post ESD and showed detectable activity for 3β-HSD and NADH2-diaphorase, which became progressively stronger with time after treatment. The ultrastructural study revealed that the progenitor LCs differentiated into immature LCs within a week, and two weeks later they were transformed into mature LCs. Therefore, the restoration of new LC population after EDS treatment repeated the dynamics of normal LC development within a similar time range. The dynamics of enzyme activity correlated with structural differentiation of the new LC population.