Summary
The distribution of adrenergic nerves to the male reproductive ducts were studied by applying the highly specific method of Falck and Hillarp for the cellular demonstration of the adrenergic transmitter. In rats, guinea-pigs, and rabbits, the ducts of the testis and the caput epididymidis were found to lack adrenergic varicose terminals, as they also lack cholinesterase positive structures. Adrenergic terminals extend in the vas deferens and epididymis from the prostatic end as far as the upper mid-corpus level of the ductus epididymidis, occurring in the muscle layers and, except in the rat, in the lamina propria. In the cat, ductuli efferentes and caput epididymidis also receive an adrenergic innervation.
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For skilful technical assistance we are grateful to Mrs. Ulla Flyger and Miss Berith Hansson. The investigation has been supported by a research grant (B 66-257) from the Swedish Medical Research Council.
On sabbatical leave from the Biology Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, with the aid of a Senior Research Fellowship from the National Council of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health, Welfare and Education. The use of facilities of the Department of Physiology I, Karolinska Institutet, with the kind permission of Professor U. S. von Euler and Research Docent R. Eliasson during the course of this study also is greatly appreciated.
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Norberg, K.A., Risley, P.L. & Ungerstedt, U. Adrenergic innervation of the male reproductive ducts in some mammals. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 76, 278–286 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343103
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343103