Reproduction Abstracts

Introduction: Testicular peritubular cells and the smooth muscle cell layer surrounding the epididymal duct are responsible for the transport of spermatozoa and thus contribute to maintaining male fertility. The intracellular second messenger cGMP mediates smooth muscle cell relaxation and components of cGMP signaling were found in smooth muscle cells of the testis and epididymis. A time-lapse video approach was used to study contractility of seminiferous tubules and the epidi...

Introduction: Bacterial epididymitis is a common disorder in urological outpatient clinics and usually results from ascending infections originating in the urinary tract often involving uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) as causative pathogen. In 40% of patients with acute epididymitis, impaired semen parameters persist even after antibiotic treatment. Members of the TGFβ cytokine superfamily, such as activin A, have recently been identified in the epididymis and are c...