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Fig. 5
Adult brca2 mutant testes showed meiotic arrest and lack of spermatids and sperm and developed neoplasias.
(A) Adult testes of wild types were organized into tubules that contained sperm (sp). (B) Adult testes of brca2 mutants were smaller in diameter and lacked sperm, but instead contained clusters of pyknotic cells and empty tubules (asterisks). (C) The anterior part of the testes (anterior testes) in wild-type adults possessed all stages of spermatogenesis: spermatogonia, spermatocytes at the bouquet stage (late zygotene-early pachytene) of meiosis, as well as later stages -- spermatids and sperm. (D,E,F) brca2 mutant anterior testes also had spermatogonia and bouquet stage spermatocytes, but strikingly, contained tubules of pyknotic cells, lacked spermatids and sperm, and had eosinophils that were not observed in wild-type testes. (G) The posterior part of the testes (posterior testes) of wild types contained tubules filled with germ cells at only the latest stage of spermatogenesis: sperm. (H) The posterior testis of brca2 mutants lacked sperm and had empty tubules (*) formed by interstitial cells. (I,J) The posterior testes of brca2 mutants developed neoplasias formed by spermatogonia and interstitial cells, demarcated by dotted lines and shown in enlargements (K,L). Abbreviations: asterisks (*), empty testis tubules; eos: eosinophils; ic: interstitial cells; pc: pyknotic cells; sc-b: spermatocytes at bouquet stage; sd: spermatids; sg: spermatogonia; sp: sperm.