Department of Urology, University of Virgina School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Department of Physiology, ARC Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, Cambridge CB2 4AT, UK.
Am J Primatol. 1981;1(2):251-256. doi: 10.1002/ajp.1350010216.
Using micropuncture and microanalytical techniques, we studied the microenvironment surrounding the maturing spermatozoa in different regions along the epididymis of the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta; 3 animals) and the baboon (Papio cynocephalus; 1 animal) and in the human ductus deferens. In the monkey and baboon, samples of luminal contents (luminal fluid and spermatozoa) of approximately 50 to 300 nanolitres were collected from several epididymal sites and the luminal fluid analyzed for inositol. Similarly, a sample of approximately 0.5 to 1.0 μl of luminal contents was collected from each human ductus deferens and the luminal fluid analyzed for sodium, potassium, chloride, inositol, carnitine, glycerophosphocholine (GPC), phosphocholine and total phosphate. Each analysis required the modification of standard methods to accommodate the very small sample volumes collected. We show that the microenvironment in the monkey, baboon, and human is different from those in other species with respect to the concentration of compounds estimated. In the luminal fluid of the human ductus deferens, the majority of the osmoticallyactive compounds are the inorganic ions which is in direct contrast to the rat, hamster, rabbit, ram and boar. In these species, organic compounds contribute significantly more to the osmolarity of the luminal fluid than do inorganic ions. Although the significance of these findings is unclear, a relationship seems to exist between the appearance of carnitine in the luminal fluid of the proximal caput epididymidis of the rat and the point where spermatozoa develop the potential for motility. These investigations also raise the question of which species most closely reflects the physiology of the reproductive system of man.
使用微穿刺和微分析技术，我们研究了恒河猴（Macaca mulatta；3 只动物）和狒狒（Papio cynocephalus；1 只动物）附睾不同区域以及人类输精管中成熟精子周围的微环境。在猴子和狒狒中，从几个附睾部位采集了约 50 到 300 纳升的腔内容物（腔液和精子）样本，并分析了腔液中的肌醇。同样，从每个人类输精管中采集了约 0.5 到 1.0 微升的腔内容物样本，并分析了腔液中的钠、钾、氯、肌醇、肉碱、甘油磷酸胆碱 (GPC)、磷酸胆碱和总磷酸盐。每个分析都需要对标准方法进行修改，以适应收集的非常小的样本量。我们表明，就估计的化合物浓度而言，猴子、狒狒和人类的微环境与其他物种不同。在人类输精管的腔液中，大多数渗透活性化合物是无机离子，这与大鼠、仓鼠、兔子、公羊和公猪直接相反。在这些物种中，有机化合物对腔液渗透压的贡献远大于无机离子。尽管这些发现的意义尚不清楚，但似乎存在一种关系，即肉碱出现在大鼠近端附睾头部的腔液中，与精子发展运动能力的潜力的时间点之间存在关系。这些研究还提出了一个问题，即哪种物种最能反映人类生殖系统的生理学。
