CHANGES IN THE ADENOHYPOPHYSIS AND GENITAL TRACT OF CRYPTORCHID RATS: SOME MORPHOLOGICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ASPECTS

Abstract

It has been confirmed that cryptorchidism may affect the control mechanism of gonadotrophin secretion. This has been based on morphological aspects of the adenohypophysis of cryptorchid rats which have shown an increase in basophilic and vacuolated basophilic cells, an increase known to be related to the production of gonadotrophin. The morphological alterations observed in the testes, prostates, seminal vesicles and ductus deferentes of these cryptorchid animals, the quiescence and the responses of their seminal vesicles and ductus deferentes to sympathomimetic and parasympathomimetic drugs indicated that these cryptorchid animals may be somewhere between normal and castrated rats, although not equidistant from either. Comparison of wet weights and of occurrence of spontaneous contractions, and determination of drug parameters in seminal vesicles and ductus deferentes taken from normal, castrated or cryptorchid rats, suggested that the development and the spontaneous or the pharmacological responses of male accessory organs of reproduction are independent phenomena.