Male Reproductive System!

• The Male Reproductive system includes the Testis, Epididymis, and Prostate.
• Superior part of the seminal vesicles is known as the adventitiavesicula seminalis.
• The Testis is a pair organ with cytogenic and endocrine functions, located outside of the abdomen within the scrotum.
• The Testis has two parts - upper and lower (extremitas superior et inferior), two surfaces - medial and lateral (facies medialis et lateralis), and two edges - anterior and posterior (margo anterior et posterior).
• On the posterior edge of the Testis is located the Epididymis.
• On the upper part of the Testis is the Appendix Testis, a remnant of the embryonic development.
• The Testis is surrounded by the testicular capsule composed of three layers: Tunica vaginalis, Tunica albuginea, and Tunica vasculosa.
• Tunica albuginea is the most prominent component of the testicular capsule, a thick layer of fibroconnective tissue with smooth muscle cells.
• Tunica albuginea is thickened on the posterior surface of the Testis, known as the mediastinum testis.
• From the mediastinum testis, thin slips of connective tissue, known as septula testis, divide the parenchyma into 350 pyramidal compartments, known as lobuli testis.
• Each lobule contains 2 - 5 highly convoluted seminiferous tubules, known as tubuli seminiferi contorti, which are embedded in a loose connective tissue containing vessels, nerves, and the specific testosterone-producing cells, the Leydig cells.
• The Leydig cells are 12% of the testicular cell components, usually localized in groups or clusters between the canals, and their cytoplasm is rich in lipids inclusions.
• The anatomical parts of the epididymis are the head, the body, the tail, and between the testis and the epididymis is a narrow space, the sinus epididymidis.
• The head of the epididymis consists of ductuli efferentes, which form lobules of the epididymis and run into a single ductus epididymis, which is surrounded by connective tissue.
• Tunica albuginea, the seminiferous tubules, Leydig cells, the epididymis, and the testis are all parts of the male reproductive system.
• Rete testis is a network of straight tubules in the mediastinum testis, the canals are covered by simple cuboidal epithelium.
• The testis is a tubular network known as the rete testis, which emerges from the rete testis 12-18 spirally convoluted ducts to form the head of the epididymis, the caput epididymis.
• The epididymis is located on the posterior edge of the testis, it is 5 cm long and 1 cm wide.
• Ductuli efferentes commence from the mediastinum testis, their lumen is irregular in outline owing to the varying height of the epithelium.
• The Sertoli cells are tall cells resting with their basal part on the basal lamina, with long processes with many junctional specializations between the neighbour cells, and are a part of the blood-testis barrier.
• Tubuli recti are straight tubules with simple columnar epithelium, without spermatogenic cells, only Sertoli cells remain.
• The seminiferous epithelium contains two cellular types: the germ or spermatogenic cells, which include spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and the mature spermatozoa, and the supporting cells of Sertoli.
• The seminiferous tubules are covered by germinal or seminiferous epithelium, which rests upon a thin basal lamina.
• The Sertoli cells have receptors for testosterone and in their apical part the spermatids undergo metamorphosis into spermatozoa, spermiogenesis.
• Externally, under the basal lamina is a zone of fibrous tissue, the lamina propria, with numerous smooth muscle cells, peritubular myofibroblasts.
• The human Leydig cells contain peculiar rod-shaped crystalloids (of Reinke), have an extensive developed smooth endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria with tubular cristae and Golgi complex.
• The prostate is located near the fundus of the urinary bladder and surrounds the urethra.
• The ductus epididymis forms the body and the tail of the epididymis.
• The venous return of the testis is through the plexus pampiniformis, which is located in the vena cava infra-diaphragmatica.
• The epididymis is covered by pseudostratified (two-layered) columnar epithelium with stereocilia, which are important for the unidirectional transport of the spermatozoa.
• The prostate is a compound tubuloacinar gland that comprises 30 - 50 small glands that drain into the prostatic part of the urethra.
• The prostate has three surfaces: facies anterior, posterior et inferolateralis.
• The prostate has three lobules: lobus dexter et sinister, which border pass through the urethra, and lobus medius (isthmus), which is pyramidal-shaped, between the urethra and ductuli ejaculatorii.
• The prostate is surrounded by a thick fibroelastic capsule with many smooth muscle cells.
• The glandular elements of the prostate are distributed in the muscle-elastic stroma of the organ (substantia muscularis or stroma myoelasticum).
• The testicularis branch of the abdominal aorta is the blood supply and innervation of the testis and epididymis.
• The innervation of the testis and epididymis includes the plexus testicularis et plexus deferentialis, which are sympathetic and sensory fibres.
• Depending on their localization, the prostatic glands are three types: Glandularis periurethralis, which are in the tunica mucosa of the urethra, Glandularis submucosae, which are in the tela submucosa of the urethra, and Glandularis principales, which are the main, peripherally localized glandular elements.
• Each seminiferous tubule is highly convoluted, 30 to 70с m long, d - 0,2 mm, and at the apex of the lobule the tubules become a straight, known as tubuli recti.
• In the mediastinum testis of the Testis is located the Epididymis, a coiled structure that stores and transports sperm.