The postnatal development of the junctional complexes of the mouse Sertoli cells as revealed by freeze-fracture.

Mouse testes of newborn to adult were examined by freeze-fracture. Between the newborn Sertoli cells, gap junctions consisting of aggregations of the intramembranous particles (about 8 nm in diameter) are frequently found. Some of the junctions are about 1 mum in diameter and show particle-free regions in the aggregation. Linear arrangements of a few particles, which appear to be the initial formation of the occluding junctions, are seen in the newborn sertoli cells. The occluding junctions are arranged in a meshwork, in which the gap junctions are situated between the stages of newborn to six days of age. The particles of the occluding junctions are predominantly located on the B face in the center of the groove instead of the A face of the ridge. The occluding junctions do not appear to surround the entire circumference of the Sertoli cell of the 6-day-old mouse. The gap junctions decrease in size. In later stages, many parallel occluding junctions (up to forty in number) are found over one Sertoli cell surface and are distributed circumferentially around the entire cell surface, indicating establishment of the blood-testis barrier. The occluding junctions dominate and the gap junctions diminish in number as development proceeds.