Figure 3.
Spontaneous apoptosis in the testes and thymus of Akt1−/− mice. (A) Morphology and histology of testes from Akt1+/+ and Akt1−/−. Testes were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, processed with paraffin, sectioned, and stained with hematoxylin/eosin. (Top panel) Seminiferous tubules of Akt null (−/−); (bottom panel) seminiferous tubules of wild-type (+/+) littermate (200× magnification). Arrows indicate multinucleated giant cells. (B) Spontaneous apoptosis in tubules from Akt1−/− mice. Comparison of TUNEL-positive cells in tubules from Akt1−/− mice (top panel) and from wild-type littermate (bottom panel). Cells with dark stained nuclei are apoptotic cells (200× magnification). (C) Sperm count of Akt1+/+ male mice (n = 8, ±SE) and Akt1−/− male mice (n = 10, ±SE; P < 0.001). (D) Spontaneous apoptosis is observed throughout the thymi of Akt1−/− mice. TUNEL assays were performed on sections from thymi of Akt1−/− (top panel) and wild-type (bottom panel) mice. Cells with dark stained nuclei are apoptotic cells. Magnification, 400×. (E) Percentage of apoptotic cells as measured by TUNEL-positive cells in sections from thymi of age-matched (1–2 mo old), wild-type, and Akt1−/− mice as measured by counting 10 fields of each section (P < 0.001).