Reexamination of the morphology of the extratesticular rete and ductuli efferentes in the goat

Abstract

The morphology of the extratesticular rete and ductuli efferentes was reexamined in serial cross sections collected from the entire mass of the efferent ductules and in longitudinal sections collected from the partially unraveled efferent ductules. The extratesticular rete forms a 3-4-mm-long sac-like dilatation, which, within the head of the epididymis, has a wide lumen (up to 4 mm) and gives off along its length numerous evaginations, which, in turn, make connections with the ductuli efferentes. The latter is a mass of 16-18 ductules lined by three types of nonciliated cells: type II cells are characterized by dense, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive granules; type III cells are characterized by empty-appearing, PAS-negative vacuoles; and type I cells lack both granules and vacuoles. The distribution of the three types of nonciliated cells varies along the length. Whereas only type I cells are present in the beginning portion of the efferent ductule, type II cells predominate in the middle portion and type III cells in the distal portion (near the epididymis). The transition from one cell type to the other type is gradual; thus there are short segments along the length that share characteristics first for type I and type II cells and then for type II and type III cells. These results demonstrate that different nonciliated cell types are not randomly distributed in the epithelium of the ductuli efferentes but, instead, gradually differentiate from type I to type II to type III cells along the length of each efferent ductule. Factors controlling this differentiation remain to be studied.

Endocrine Disruptor Vinclozolin Induced Epigenetic Transgenerational Adult-Onset Disease

“…Although steroid production in the developing fetal gonad is negligible, androstenedione is produced by the fetal adrenal. The androgen and estrogen receptors appear to be expressed in germ cells, Sertoli cells, and precursor peritubular cells in the embryo, such that the fetal gonad may be responsive to endocrine disruptors (19,20). However, potential toxicology of these environmental compounds also needs to be considered.…”

The presence of intra-tubular lymphocytes in normal testis of the mouse

“…This possibility was confirmed at the electron microscopic level by Hamilton (1972) 17) . Later, the presence of lymphocytes penetrating into the epithelial layers of TR was found at the electron microscopic level in some animal species except for mice 7,9,10) . In the present study, we first found similar lymphocytes in normal mice.…”

“…On the other hand, previous studies have demonstrated that quite a few lymphocytes occasionally penetrate into the RT in the normal rat, cat, goat, boar, and bull [6][7][8][9][10][11] . Moreover, the presence of penetrating lymphocytes inside the TR in the normal state has been reported in the monkey 6) .…”

The ductuli efferentes testis of the greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus)

“…There are three non-ciliated cell types in man (Morita 1966), bull (Goyal and Hrudka 1981), goat (Gray et al 1983;Goyal et al 1992) and, at least, four in the dog (Hess and Bassily 1988). In man, bull and goat, unlike in the rat, the type I cell contains no granules or vacuoles, the type II cell contains numerous dense granules, while the type III cell exhibits no granules, but contains numerous vacuoles (Morita 1966;Goyal and Hrudka 1981;Goyal et al 1992). In birds, two types of non-ciliated cells, present, respectively, in the proximal and distal segments of the efferent duct, have been reported (Budras and Sauer 1975;Aire and Malmquist 1979;Aire 1979).…”