Biology of Spermatogenesis and Spermatozoa in Mammals

The spermatogenesis and spermatozoa of mammals are of funda­ mental interest to a wide variety of academic and scientific disci­ plines; zoologists keep up interest in comparative biology of sper­ matogenesis and spermatozoa in different groups of mammals for determining their phylogenetic interrelationships. Therefore, during the past 15 years, a wealth of reviews and papers have been published on the morphology (including ultrastructure), histochemistry, auto­ radiography, biochemistry (including immunology), and cell physiol­ ogy of the seminiferous epithelium including Sertoli cells, spermato­ genesis and spermatozoa in mammals. Hormonal regulation of sper­ matogenesis also forms the subject to numerous studies. Research in this area of reproductive biology continues at a remarkable rate, and new and significant information appears daily in a wide range of journals, published symposia, and specialist reviews. The scattered nature of this information makes it difficult for a scientist, student or andrologist to go through even a small fraction of these publications on the biology of spermatogenesis and spermatozoa and so obtain a general oversight of current activity and new advances. Actually, very little attempt has been made previously to summarize and inte­ grate the vast information which has become available as a result of use of modern techniques of microscopy, surface topography, histo­ chemistry, autoradiography, biochemistry, biophysics, immunology, molecular biology, in vitro systems, etc. Much-needed interdisciplin­ ary approach in biology of seminiferous epithelium, spermatogenesis and spermatozoa is very difficult and thus lacking.