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In contrast, in estrogen receptor alpha knockout mice, the epithelium of the efferent ducts is affected, resulting in fluid accumulation in the seminiferous tubular lumen and disruption of the epithelium. More apically, the dilated spaces surrounded the heads of elongating spermatids (Fig. 11). Being membrane bound, such spaces corresponded to the cytoplasm of the apical processes of Sertoli cells that are known to envelop the heads of spermatids in various mammals at different stages of the cycle. There was no evidence of dilations of the cytoplasm of any generation of germ cells. Thus, in the absence of the FSH-R, Sertoli cells show dilations of their cytoplasm, with apparent accumulation of fluid and concurrent loss of ground substance (Fig. 11). For several reasons, we believe that observations on dilated spaces in FORKO testes are real and not artifacts. First, the testes used for EM analyses were always fixed by cardiac perfusion with either 2.5% or 5% glutaraldehyde. In both cases, the dilated spaces were consistently found in FORKO mice but never in their wild-type counterparts.