Previous studies suggested indirectly that residual bodies (RB) may play a role in the regulation of the proteolytic system within the testis and in the coordination of the spermatogenetic process. In the present study, we examined the effects of RB recovered from adult rat testes by centrifugal elutriation on Sertoli cell plasminogen activator (PA) levels, by zymography and ELISA procedures. Addition of RB to Sertoli cell cultures prepared from 20-day-old rat testes resulted in a dramatic stimulation of PA. Effects were dose- and time-dependent. Phagocytosis of RB by Sertoli cells leads to a rapid stimulation of Sertoli cell interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha), a cytokine potentially involved in the regulation of spermatogenesis; the effects of IL-1alpha were investigated. We found that IL-1alpha augmented PA levels and that immunodepletion of Sertoli cell-RB cocultures with anti-IL-1alpha antibodies abrogated the stimulatory effects of RB on PA. Together, the present findings indicate that RB enhance Sertoli cell PA and that IL-1alpha may be involved in that control.