Pre- and post-natal growth of the human ductus epididymidis. A morphometric study

Abstract

A histometric study of the development of the human epididymis from the fetal period to adulthood has been carried out in males without testicular or related pathology, distributed into the following groups: (I) fetuses (between the 28th and 37th week of pregnancy); (II) newborns (1-30 days of age); (III) infants (2-4 months of age); (IV) infants (5-12 months of age); (V) infants (1-4 years of age); (VI) children (5-14 years [prepubertal]); and (VII) adults (15-60 years of age). For each age group and each epididymal portion (efferent ducts, caput, corpus and cauda epididymidis) the parameters measured were (1) total surface (epithelium + muscular layer + lumen); (2) the surface occupied by the lumen; (3) the surface occupied by the muscular layer; (4) total diameter of the duct; (5) total diameter of the lumen; and (6) the height of the epithelium. The results of the present study revealed that the development of the efferent ducts and ductus epididymidis follows a biphasic pattern. A progressive development occurs from the fetal period to infants 2-4-months of age. However, this development is transient and regresses during infancy (groups IV and V). At childhood (group VI), a definitive development is initiated and completed at puberty (group VII). These changes seem to be related to the androgen-dependence of the epididymis, the different stages of testicular maturation, and the steroidogenic activity of Leydig cells.

Residual Activity of Mutant Androgen Receptors Explains Wolffian Duct Development in the Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome

“…The epididymis and vas deferens in CAIS patients had developed well beyond the stage observed in the control fetal tissues. Compared with data for normal children (17), lumen diameter and epithelial height of the epididymis were within the 2.5 sem range in 83% of cases. Lumen diameter and epithelial height in the normal male fetuses were within the 2.5 sem range reported for the prenatal epididymis (17) in all cases, indicating that our control measurements are comparable to those reported by others.…”

“…Compared with data for normal children (17), lumen diameter and epithelial height of the epididymis were within the 2.5 sem range in 83% of cases. Lumen diameter and epithelial height in the normal male fetuses were within the 2.5 sem range reported for the prenatal epididymis (17) in all cases, indicating that our control measurements are comparable to those reported by others. The fact that the WD in this subgroup of CAIS patients are more developed than control fetal WD and in some respects similar to those in normal subjects suggests that not only have they failed to regress, but they have been stimulated to grow.…”

Plasticity of basal cells during postnatal development in the rat epididymis

“…The epididymis of several species including humans and rodents is immature at birth and epithelial cells acquire their differentiated phenotypes over an extended postnatal period (Nilnophakoon 1978, Sun & Flickinger 1979, Zondek & Zondek 1980, Francavilla et al 1987, De Miguel et al 1998, Rodriguez et al 2002, Marty et al 2003). Based on morphological studies, the postnatal development of the rat epididymis has been divided into three phases, namely an undifferentiated period (days 1–15), a differentiation period (days 16–44), and a period of expansion (days beyond 44) (Sun & Flickinger 1979).…”

The Epididymis: Embryology, Structure, Function And Its Role In Fertilization And Infertility

“…The establishment of the regionalized protein secretion takes place progressively coupled to the consolidation of an anatomical epididymal segmentation (Figure 4). The differentiation and regionalization are related to the different stages of testicular maturation, the steroidogenic activity of the Leydig cells, the androgen dependence of the epididymis itself and the lumicrine factors (De Miguel et al, 1998;Robaire et al, 2000;Dacheux et al, 2005;Cornwall, 2009;. Then the second phase starts after halo cell differentiation and ends in puberty.…”