Concentrations of Seven Elements in the Intraluminal Fluids of the Rat Seminiferous Tubules, Rete Testis, and Epididymis1

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Abstract
Using micropuncture techniques and electron probe microanalysis, the concentrations of the 7 principal biological chemical elements in the intraluminal fluids of the seminiferous tubules, rete testis and epididymis were found. For the 1st time, these measurements were made in the same sample preparations. The Na concentration fell from seminiferous tubules (135.44 .+-. 12.20 mM/l) to caput epididymidis (104.02 .+-. 2.79 mM/l) to distal cauda epidiymidis (37.17 .+-. 2.75 mM/l). In the seminiferous tubules, the K concentration was 39.77 .+-. 1.03 mM/l while the Cl concentration was 143.37 .+-. 11.62 mM/l. The concentraton of K rose from caput (20.53 .+-. 2.31 mM/l) to distal cauda epididymidis (39.98 .+-. 1.39 mM/l). The Cl concentration was stable throughout the epididymis (27.04 .+-. 2.16 mM/l in distal cauda epididymidal fluid). The P 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 Ca concentration fell from the caput (0.85 .+-. 0.08 mM/l) to the distal cauda (0.25 .+-. 0.06 mM/l). Like P, the Mg concentration was high in the corpus epididymidis (2.61 .+-. 0.21 mM/l). The S concentration was also higher in the corpus (30.90 .+-. 1.49 mM/l) than in the other areas of the epididymis.