1. The relative volumes of the testes and their components of 31 cockerels, 2-200 days old, were calculated and compared with the size of their increasing head appendages (Text-figs. 1a-d, 2); in addition, the effect of gestyl-administration on testes of cockerels of this age was investigated.
2. Several types of interstitial testis-cells could be distinguished morphologically and physiologically (Text-figs. 3-6 and Pl. 1); these cell-types were studied with different techniques and counted separately.
3. The main types of the interstitial cells are:
(a) Lipoid cells, totally packed with lipoid globules. These cells, which are considered by many authors as fully developed Leydig cells, are not directly connected with the production of the male sex hormone; perhaps they have a secondary function in this respect, as cholesterolderivatives are stored in these cells (Pl. 1, Text-fig. 3a).
(b) Secretory cells, characterized by the absence of lipoid vacuoles and the presence of numerous granular and filamentous mitochondria. These secretory cells, which produce the male sex hormone, can be divided into secretory cells A (Text-fig. 6a) without, and secretory cells B with, one large vacuole (Text-figs. 6b, 6c, 6d).
4. A considerable and partly intercellular storage of lipoids may take place at any age in the intertubular connective tissue (Text-figs. 3-4 and Pl. 1).
5. The number of the lipoid cells depends on the nutritive conditions of the animal and the development of its testes (Text-fig. 7).
6. In older cockerels most of the glandular cells lose their secretory function and pass over into lipoid storing cells.
7. Therefore we agree with Benoit, when he denies the occurrence of a ‘secretion de luxe’, but we cannot accept the presence of a ‘parenchyme de luxe’ in the testes of older cockerels.
Regulatory Role of Sex Hormones in Cardiovascular Calcification