Biology of Reproduction, Vol 23, 981-987, Copyright © 1980 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Concentrations of Seven Elements in the Intraluminal Fluids of the Rat Seminiferous Tubules, Rete Testis, and Epididymis

¹ Departments of Urology and Physiology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
² The National Biotechnology Resource in Electron Probe Microanalysis, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

This work, using micropuncture techniques and electron probe microanalysis, presents the concentrations of the seven principal biological chemical elements in the intraluminal fluids of the seminiferous tubules, rete testis, and epididymis. For the first time, these measurements have been made in the same sample preparations. The sodium concentration fell from seminiferous tubules (135.44 ± 12.20 mM/L) to caput epididymidis (104.02 ± 2.79 mM/L) to distal cauda epididymidis (37.17 ± 2.75 mM/L). In the seminiferous tubules, the potassium concentration was 39.77 ± 1.03 mM/L, while the chloride concentration was 143.37 ± 11.62 mM/L. The concentration of potassium rose from caput (20.53 ± 2.31 mM/L) to distal cauda epididymidis (39.98 ± 1.39 mM/L). The chloride concentration was stable throughout the epididymis (27.04 ± 2.16 mM/L in distal cauda epididymidal fluid). The phosphorus concentration was very high in the epididymis (93.76 ± 3.09 mM/L in corpus epididymidal fluid vs 2.25 ± 0.09 mM/L in serum). The concentration of calcium fell from the caput (0.85 ± 0.08 mM/L) to the distal cauda (0.25 ± 0.06 mM/L). Like phosphorus, the concentration of magnesium was high in the corpus epididymidis (2.61 ± 0.21 mM/L). The sulfur concentration was also higher in the corpus (30.90 ± 1.49 mM/L) than in the other areas of the epididymis.

Note:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The advice of Dr. Terry T. Turner is gratefully acknowledged.

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