Table 3.

Subcellular Morphology of Gonadotrophs in Male 8-Week-Old Normal and Mutant Mice.

	Control	FSHβKO	FSHRKO	LuRKO	hpg	tfm	Gonadectomised
Cell area (μm2)	101 ± 4	94 ± 6	115 ± 9	68 ± 3b	55 ± 3a	106 ± 7	108 ± 3
Cytoplasm area (μm2)	78 ± 4	73 ± 5	90 ± 9	48 ± 2b	33 ± 2a	80 ± 5	87 ± 4
Nuclear area (μm2)	21 ± 3	19 ± 3	26 ± 4	21 ± 4	20 ± 1	25 ± 2	20 ± 2
Granule diameter (nm)	181 ± 5	162 ± 8c	185 ± 15	107 ± 5b	194 ± 8	106 ± 4b	188 ± 9
Granule density (/μm2)	0.15 ± 0.01	0.14 ± 0.01	0.14 ± 0.02	0.06 ± 0.01b	0.07 ± 0.005a	0.06 ± 0.01b	0.05 ± 0.01b
Rough ER (units)	2.6 ± 0.2	2.1 ± 0.2	2.3 ± 0.2	3.2 ± 0.2c	1.3 ± 0.3a	3.9 ± 0.1b	3.8 ± 0.3b
% Granules at perimeter	39 ± 4	32 ± 2	29 ± 5	55 ± 4b	39 ± 3	57 ± 4b	60 ± 2b,

^aP < 0.01 versus normal C3H;

^bP<0.01,

^cP < 0.05 versus control.

Values expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 4 animals). Three groups of controls were independently assessed C57BL6/129 (transgenic mouse background), C3H (hpg background) and LuRH (transgenic heterozygote). No significant differences were found for each of the parameters measured and, for clarity, the control data shown are from the C57BL6/129 mice.