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Microscopic epididymides in testicular feminisation

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Abstract

MICE bearing the X-linked testicular féminisation (Tfm)1 gene in the hemizygous (X/Y) state have been presumed to have no traces of the male genital system. Unlike normal genetic males2, they are apparently unresponsive to the androgens produced by the developing testes3,4, and it has been presumed that derivatives of the embryonic mesonephric (Wolffian) duct system (MDS) are unable to survive in Tfm/Y males. I describe here, however, microscopic components of the complex comprising rete testis, efferent ductules, epididymis and, sometimes, vas deferens in adult Tfm/Y mice. These structures are unrelated to the effects of the presumed mutation Ohv, to which the microscopic epididymides of some Tfm/Y mice have been ascribed5.

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Author notes

  1. STAN R. BLECHER

    Present address: Department of Anatomy, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4H7

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Royal Dental College, Copenhagen, Denmark

    STAN R. BLECHER

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  1. STAN R. BLECHER
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BLECHER, S. Microscopic epididymides in testicular feminisation. Nature 275, 748–749 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/275748a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/275748a0

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