Insulin-like growth factor plays a paracrine/autocrine role in regulating testicular function in the stallion, but its presence in the equine epididymis remains unknown. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR) are localized in the caput, corpus, and cauda of the epididymis in an age-dependent manner. Immediately afte...

The epididymal anomalies and patent processus vaginalis are frequently seen in patients with cryptorchidism or hydrocele. We performed a prospective study on the relationship between the epididymal anomalies and the patency of the processus vaginalis in boys with hydrocele (190 cases) or cryptorchidism (89 cases) who were treated from August 1997 to February 2000 (mean age, 51 months; range, 12...

The activities of steroid sulphatase (StS) and estrogen sulphotransferase (EST) were determined in the epididymis of 18 boars. The animals were divided into three groups (n=6) according to age (8, 12 and 16 months). The boars were anesthetized and castrated. The tissue samples of different epididymal parts (caput, corpus and cauda) were taken and homogenized. Activities of StS and EST were asse...

Selenium is an essential micronutrient for animals. To determine whether its excess in diet induces morphological changes within the male reproductive system, a detailed qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the changes in the histology of the testis and cauda epididymis was undertaken in male rats. Adult male albino rats were fed 6 and 8 ppm Se in diet for 6 and 9 weeks. Each male consumi...

Hamster spermatozoa, collected from the caput and the cauda of the epididymis, are known to differ in their motility. They do not normally acquire fertilizing ability until they reach the proximal portion of the cauda epididymidis. The aim of the present investigation was to test the fertilizing capacity of spermatozoa from the caput epididymis after initiation. Sperm cells were incubated by ad...

The Sertoli cells were regarded as the only target for FSH in male reproductive system. The expression of FSH receptor (FSH-R) was detected also in epithelial cells of the caput epididymis of rat and monkey. We showed in the immunohistochemistry study the expression of FSH-R in rat and human ductuli efferentes and the caput, corpus, and cauda epididymis, moreover, by Western blot analysis in th...

Aquaporins (AQPs) are membrane protein channels that allow the rapid passage of water through an epithelium containing tight junctions. In the present study, light microscope immunocytochemistry was utilized to localize several members of the AQP family in the testis, efferent ducts, and epididymis of normal adult animals during postnatal development and after various experimental procedures on...

The Brown Norway rat provides a useful model to study aging of the male reproductive tract because of the selective age-dependent pathological changes that are found in the testis, epididymis, and prostate. In the testis, there is a clear age-dependent decrease in both steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis. In the epididymis, some striking segment-specific changes occur at the histological and bi...

The epididymis is a long, tightly coiled tube within the lumen of which sperm matures. Sperm maturation involves morphological and biochemical changes in the sperm plasma membrane in response to epididymal secretions and their various proteins. Some of these proteins become outer membrane components while others become integral membrane proteins; transfer of some proteins to the sperm plasma me...

A growing body of evidence suggests a role of estrogens in the male reproduction via their specific estrogen receptors (ERalpha/ERbeta). Estrogen receptor distribution along the genital tract tissues has been described in different species, but it is unknown in the pig. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to localize ERbeta in the epididymis of mature and immature pigs (aged 2 and 18 mo...