The Contractile Wall of the Caput Epididymidis in Men Affected by Congenital or Postinflammatory Obstructive Azoospermia

Journal of Andrology

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 417-425

  Pelliccione, Fiore ^a   Cordeschi, Giuliana ^a   Giuliani, Valeria ^a   D'Abrizio, Piera ^a   Necozione, Stefano ^a   Negri, Luciano ^b   Mancini, Mario ^b   Sagone, Patrizia ^b   Francavilla, Felice ^a   Colpi, Giovanni Maria ^b   Francavilla, Sandro ^a,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF L'AQUILA   (Italy)

^b University Hospital S Paolo   (Italy)

^c UNIVERSITY OF L'AQUILA   (Italy)

Author keywords

Congenital absence of vas deferens; Human caput epididymidis; Smooth muscle cell

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; AZOOSPERMIA; BASEMENT MEMBRANE; CELL ACTIVATION; CELL DIFFERENTIATION; CELL FUNCTION; CELL MEMBRANE; CONTROLLED STUDY; CYTOPLASM; DENSE BODY; EPIDIDYMIS; GOLGI COMPLEX; HUMAN; HUMAN TISSUE; INFLAMMATION; MALE; MICROSCOPY; MYOFILAMENT; ORCHIECTOMY; PHENOTYPE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; ROUGH ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM; SMOOTH MUSCLE FIBER; SPINDLE CELL; TESTIS CANCER; TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY; VAS DEFERENS;

EID: 11144358542     PISSN: 01963635     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/j.1939-4640.2004.tb02809.x     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Anguiano A, Oates RD, Amos JA, et al. Congenital bilateral absence of vas deferens. A primarily genital form of cystic fibrosis. JAMA. 1992;267:1794-1797.
2. Baumgarten HG, Holstein AF, Rosengren E. Arrangement, ultrastructure, and adrenergic innervation of smooth musculature of the ductuli efferentes, ductus epididymis and ductus deferens of man. Z Zellforsch. 1971;120:37-79.
3. Bedford JM. The status and the state of the human epididymis. Hum Reprod Update. 1994;9:2187-2199.
4. Chan PTK, Schlegel PN. Inflammatory conditions of the male excurrent ductal system. Part I. J Androl. 2002a;23:453-460.
5. Chan PTK, Schlegel PN. Inflammatory conditions of the male excurrent ductal system. Part II. J Androl. 2002b;23:461-469.
6. Clowes AW, Schwartz SM. Significance of quiescent smooth muscle migration in the injured rat carotid artery. Circ Res. 1985;56:139-145.
7. Cooper TG. The human epididymis - is it necessary? Int J Androl. 1993;16:245-250.
8. Cross BA. Hypotalamic influences on sperm transport in the male and female genital tract. In: Lloyd WC, ed. Recent Progress in the Endocrinology of Reproduction. New York, NY: Academic Press; 1959:167.
9. Culard JF, Desgeorges M, Costa P, Laussel M, Razakatzara G, Navratil H, Demaille J, Claustres M. Analysis of the whole CFTR coding regions and splice junctions in azoospermic men with congenital bilateral aplasia of epididymis or vas deferens. Hum Genet. 1994;93:467-470.
10. Dacheux JL, Chevier C, Lanson, Y. Motility and surface transformations of human spermatozoa during epididymal transit. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987;513:560-563.
11. de Kretser DM, Huidobro C, Southwick GJ, Temple-Smith PD. The role of epididymis in human infertility. J Reprod Fertil Suppl. 1998;53:271-275.
12. Dörk T, Dworniczak B, Aulehla-Scholz C, et al. Distinct spectrum of CFFR gene mutations in congenital absence of vas deferens. Hum Genet. 1997;100:365-377.
13. Dumur V, Gervais R, Rigot JM. Abnormal distribution of CF AF508 allele in azoospermic men with congenital aplasia of epididymis and vas deferens. Lancet. 1990;336:512.
14. Francavilla S, De Martino C, Scorza Barcellona P, Natali PG. Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical studies of rat epididymis. Cell Tissue Res. 1983;233:523-537.
15. Francavilla S, Moscardelli S, Properzi G, De Matteis MA, Scorza Barcellona P, Natali PG, De Martino C. A correlation between the ultrastructure of epithelium and tubule wall, and the fluorescence-microscopic distribution of actin, myosin, fibronectin, and basement membrane. Cell Tissue Res. 1987;249:257-265.
16. Hinrichsen MJ, Blaquier JA. Evidence supporting the existence of sperm maturation in the human epididymis. J Reprod Fertil. 1980;60:291-294.
17. Holstein AF. Structure of the human epididymis. In: Hafez ESE, ed. Human Semen and Fertility Regulation in Men. St Louis, Mo: CV Mosby; 1976:23-30.
18. Hu N, Clark EB. Hemodynamics of the stage 12 to stage 29 chick embryos. Circ Res. 1989;65:1665-1670.
19. Jones RC. To store or mature spermatozoa? The primary role of the epididymis. Int J Androl. 1999;22:57-67.
20. Matthews GJ, Schlegel PN, Goldstein M. Patency following microsurgical vasoepididymostomy and vasovasostomy: temporal considerations. J Urol. 1995;154:2070-2073.
21. Moore HDM, Hartmann TD, Pryor JP. Development of the oocyte-penetrating capacity of spermatozoa in the human epididymis. Int J Androl. 1983;6:310-318.
22. Muratori G, Contro S. Osservazioni sui movimenti del canale dell'epididimo. Boll Soc Ital Biol Sper. 1951;27:538-539.
23. Owens GK. Regulation of differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells. Physiol Rev. 1995;75:487-517.
24. Owens GK, Rabinovitch PS, Schwartz SM. Smooth muscle cell hypertrophy versus hyperplasia in hypertension. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981;78:7759-7763.
25. Rajalakshmi M, Ratna Kumar BV, Kapur MM, Pal PC. Ultrastructural changes in the efferent duct and epididymis of men with obstructive infertility. Anat Rec. 1993;237:199-207.
26. Risley ES. The contractile behavior in vivo of the ductus epididymis and vasa efferentia in the rat. Anat Rec. 1958;130:471-478.
27. Robaire B, Hermo L. Efferent ducts, epididymis, and vas deferens: structure, functions, and their regulation. In: Knobil E, Neill J, Ewing LL, Greenwald GS, Market CL, Pfaff DW, eds. The Physiology of Reproduction. New York, NY: Raven Press; 1988:999-1080.
28. Sartore S, Chiavegato A, Franch R, Faggin E, Pauletto P. Myosin gene expression and cell phenotypes in vascular smooth muscle during development, in experimental models, and in vascular disease. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1997;17:1210-1215.
29. Schwartz SM, Campbell GR, Campbell JH. Replication of smooth muscle cells in vascular disease. Circ Res. 1986;58:427-444.
30. Schwartz SM, Reidy MR, Clowes A. Kinetics of atherosclerosis: a stem cell model. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1985;454:292-304.
31. Stary HC. The sequence of cell and matrix changes in atherosclerotic lesions of coronary arteries in the first forty years of life. Eur Heart J. 1990;11(suppl E):3-19.
32. Suvanto O, Kormano M. The relation between in vitro contractions of the rat seminiferous tubules and the cyclic stage of the seminiferous epithelium. J Reprod Fertil. 1970;21:227-232.
33. Turner TT. On the epididymis and its role in the development of the fertile ejaculate. J Androl. 1995;16:292-298.
34. Vohra S, Morgentaler A. Congenital anomalies of the vas deferens, epididymis and seminal vesicles. Urology. 1997;49:313-321.
35. Yeung CH, Cooper TG, Aberpenning F, Schulze H, Nieschlag E. Changes in movement characteristics of human spermatozoa along the length of the epididymis. Biol Reprod. 1993;49:274-280.
36. Yeung CH, Cooper TG, Bergmann M, Schulze H. Organization of tubules in the human caput epididymis and the ultrastructure of their epithelia. Am J Anat. 1991;191:261-279.
37. Yeung CH, Nashan D, Sorg C, Oberpenning F, Schulze H, Nieschlag E, Cooper TG. Basal cells of the human epididymis-antigenic and ultrastructural similarities to tissue-fixed macrophages. Biol Reprod. 1994;50:917-926.