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De Graaf's Thread: The Human Epididymis.

Turner TT

Over three hundred years ago, the human epididymis was dissected down to the single epididymal tubule by Antoine De Graaf. De Graaf knew that the head of the epididymis was made up of what we now refer to as the efferent ducts. Those ducts lead to the single epididymal tubule that De Graaf referred to as a "thread" and has been shown to be important for the concentration, maturation, transport and storage of spermatozoa. The scarcity of human epididymides available for study has meant that the bulk of epididymal biology has been determined using tissues and cells from laboratory animals, though studies of human tissues have been informative, as well. Unfortunately, it has largely been ignored that human epididymides available for study often come from men beyond their reproductive years and that these same men commonly have other conditions that mitigate against their tissues being representative of "normal" epididymides. The interested investigator should be aware of the disparity and play close attention to verifying that received tissues are biologically useful. Epididymal dysplasias associated with cryptorchidism and mutated or absent HOX and CFTR proteins present difficult problems for both the clinician to cure and the scientist to solve. Other challenges remain in understanding the biology of the epididymis subsequent to long-term vasectomy followed by vasovasostomy and in attempts to achieve male contraception through intentioned, reversible interruption of an epididymal function.

Published 28 January 2008 in J Androl.
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