Duration of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium and its stages in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).

Doses of 1 Gy or more of X-irradiation killed all B spermatogonia present in the testis, and during the first 3 weeks after irradiation, virtually no new B spermatogonia were formed. The number of Apale spermatogonia decreased during the first cycle of the seminiferous epithelium while the number of Adark spermatogonia only began to decrease during the second cycle after irradiation. In this study, the duration of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium in the rhesus monkey was estimated to be 10.5 days (SE = 0.2 days). This was determined following the depletion of germinal cells in the seminiferous epithelium during the first 3 weeks after irradiation. The duration of each of the 12 stages of the cycle was also determined. Our observations of the progress of germinal cell depletion revealed that after a dose of X-irradiation sufficient to kill all B spermatogonia, all spermatocytes disappeared from the testis within about 17 days, and all spermatids within about 31 days.