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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 20(6)

Postnatal Sertoli and Leydig cell proliferation and the establishment of puberty and sexual maturity in Chinchilla lanigera (Rodentia, Chinchillidae)

Marcelo C. Leal A and Luiz R. França A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Laboratory of Cellular Biology, Department of Morphology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil.

B Corresponding author. Email: lrfranca@icb.ufmg.br

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 20(6) 665-673 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD07134
Submitted: 16 August 2007  Accepted: 19 May 2008   Published: 9 July 2008

Abstract

The Chilean chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera) is threatened in its natural habitat and there is very little information concerning the reproductive biology of this species. Our main objectives were to investigate the postnatal testis development in this rodent, with emphasis on Sertoli and Leydig cell proliferation and the establishment of puberty and sexual maturity. Forty-four animals from one day to 30 months of age had their testis and epididymis prepared (time of collection for animals from 5 to 30 months of age, May–November in the southern hemisphere) for histological and stereological analyses. Both Sertoli and Leydig cell proliferation occurred up to two months after birth and their total number per testis were stable thereafter. Based on spermatid release from the seminiferous epithelium and the presence of sperm in the epididymis, puberty in chinchilla took place at around three months of age. However, testis weight and tubular diameter and epithelium height appeared to stabilise only after the animals reached 17 months of age, indicating that the establishment of full sexual maturity in this species takes a relatively long period of time. This particular finding indicates that chinchilla might represent an interesting experimental model to investigate the mechanisms that regulate the establishment of this important event of reproductive physiology in mammals.

Additional keywords: chinchilla, spermatogenesis, stereology, testis development.


Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Brazilian Foundations CAPES, CNPq, and FAPEMIG.


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