Appearance of Peculiar Epithelial Cells in the Epididymal Duct of the Mouse Ligated Epididymis1

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Abstract
The mouse epididymis was ligated at the junction of the head and body at 20-30 days or 90 days of age, and examined by light microscopy and EM 30 days after ligation. In the normal mouse, the lumen of the duct in the corpus epididymidis was distended with abundant spermatozoa and PAS periodic acid-Schiff-positive material. In the epididymis ligated at 20-30 days, the duct of the corpus was decreased in diameter and contained no spermatozoa and little PAS-positive material in the lumen. Peculiar pale, vacuolated cells appeared scattered or clustered in the epithelium in this region. The cells often formed intercellular cysts. The vacuoles and intercellular cysts had long microvilli on their inner surface. In the epididymis ligated at 90 days, few or no pale cells were seen in the epithelium of the duct. The differentiation of the epithelial cells apparently is dependent on the luminal contents of the epididymal duct.