The blood-testis barrier and its formation relative to spermatocyte maturation in the adult rat: a lanthanum tracer study.

An electron-opaque substance, lanthanum, was utilized to determine when germ cells of the rat first cross the blood-testis barrier in adult spermatogenesis. Intravascularly perfused lanthanum was shown to surround all spermatogonia. Intravascularly perfused lanthanum was shown to surround all spermatogonia, preleptotene spermatocytes and early leptotene spermatocytes of Stage IX in the adult rat testis. Lanthanum was excluded from the spaces around more mature cells by newly-formed tight junctions between adjoining Sertoli processes. These processes had previously intervened between the leptotene cells and the basal lamina. The results are in close agreement with those of a previous study (Russell, '77a) which indicated that leptotene cells are the first cells of adult spermatogenesis to enter the intermediate compartment and to reside beyond a permeability barrier.