connection between the seminiferous tubules and the rete testis in the domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus). Morphological study

The tubules connecting the seminiferous tubules proper to the rete testis in the fowl were studied with the aid of light and electron microscopy. The material examined ultrastructurally was fixed by vascular perfusion through the thoracic aorta. The seminiferous tubules were joined to the rete testis in three different ways; they were either linked by a terminal segment and a tubulus rectus, by a terminal segment only, or opened directly into the rete cavities. The terminal segment of the seminiferous tubules was lined with columnar cells (modified Sertoli cells). These cells were characterized by having an indented nucleus with a prominent nucleolus, many mitochondria, a sizable Golgi apparatus, electron dense bodies and many cytoplasmic protrusions into the lumen. Intraepithelial lymphocytes as well as macrophages in the lumina of the terminal segment, the tubuli recti and the rete testis were also observed. Myoid cells were found in the boundary tissue of the terminal segment.