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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Jun 24.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2008 Apr 26;288(1-2):95–103. doi: 10.1016/j.mce.2008.04.012

Figure 2. Organization of the Drosophila testis and the seminiferous epithelium in mammals.

Figure 2

Figure 2A: Germinal proliferation center in Drosophila. In the apical tip region, the germline stem cells (S) are in contact with the hub cells (H). Each germline stem cell also associates with a pair of somatic cells called cyst progenitor cells (CP). When a germline stem cell or a cyst progenitor cell divides, the daughter cell that loses contact from the hub differentiates into a gonialblast (G) or a cyst cell (C) respectively. Two cyst cells will associate with one gonialblast and will never divide again. They will enclose the progeny of the gonialblast throughout spermatogenesis. From Fuller MT, Seminars in Developmental Biology, 1998 (Fuller, 1998).

Figure 2B: Seminiferous epithelium of the mammalian testis. The spermatogonial stem cells are a subpopulation of type A spermatogonia that reside in the basal compartment of the seminiferous epithelium, in contact with the basement membrane. As the germ cells proliferate and differentiate, they move toward the lumen of the seminiferous tubule. Adapted from Russell L, Mammalian Spermatogenesis, In: Histological and Histopathological Evaluation of the Testis, Cache River Press, 1990 (Russell, 1990).