Aspects of spermatogenesis in immature and mature specimens of the long-lived Greenland shark: novelties concerning the germinal compartment’s assembly, complement of Sertoli cells and demise

Abstract

Cystic spermatogenesis in the subadult, maturing and adult Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) displays multiple novel features, characterized early on by an unorganized internal cellular environment of the spermatocysts (anatomically discrete follicle-like units containing a single germ cell stage and its complement of co-developing Sertoli cells). These typically show polar asymmetries due to asymmetrically distributed germ and Sertoli cells. These arise from several novel cellular rearrangements at the immature pole, including fusion of a cluster of somatic cells with newly formed cysts containing only one to three spermatogonia and that already display an excess of Sertoli cells. The subadult’s germinative zone revealed an additional novelty, namely numerous previously formed somatic cell-lined rings into which spermatogonia were incorporated. A striking finding was the conspicuous rarity of the routinely discernible Sertoli mitotic figures in the hallmark cyst stage of diametric elasmobranch spermatogenesis that is known for the peak display of the latter. Scrutiny of sequentially unfolding phenomena in the linearly arranged spermatogonial generations revealed that the cellular developments at the most common type of cyst–duct transition area (comprising slender to spindle-like basophilic cells with pointed ends) were concurrent with the discreet appearance of a second dark Sertoli nucleus, a development that persisted in spermiated cysts. Spermatogenically active mature males displayed vigorous meiotic divisions. However, a scattering of their spermatid cysts also displayed shark-atypical asynchronous passage through spermiogenesis, phenomena which were exacerbated as arrested spermiogenesis in an archival collection of tissues from 13 maturing specimens. Subadult specimens revealed meiotic arrest, and foci of infiltration of leukocytes that originate from a mass of eosinophilic, granule-laden immune cells dorsally under the testis capsule. This tissue was identical to the testis-affixed bone marrow equivalent in other shark species. This tissue is likely developmentally regulated in the Greenland shark as it is absent in adults.