A morphological study of the efferent ducts of the human epididymis

Abstract

Efferent ducts of the human epididymis were studied with a light microscope and a computerized three-dimensional image analyser by preparing complete serial sections. The efferent ducts were characterized by a columnar epithelium, which differed both from the cuboidal epithelium of the rete testis and from the tall columnar epithelium of the epididymal duct. Therefore, the junctions of the efferent ducts with the rete testis and epididymal duct could be identified morphologically. Five or six efferent ducts originated from the dilated extra-testicular rete testis, ran in an extremely tortuous manner and transformed into the epididymal ducts in an end-to-end pattern near the border of the epididymal head and corpus. Computerized image analysis confirmed light microscopical findings and demonstrated three-dimensional structures of the junctions of the efferent ducts with both the rete testis and the epididymal ducts.