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Abstract
Although many studies have described the histology of the young and adult epididymis, in both humans and experimental animals very few have focused on how the epididymis is affected during aging. So the aim of this work is to study the histological and the ultrastructural changes in the albino rat epididymis at different ages and to evaluate how these changes affect sperm.Material and methods
Thirty healthy male albino rats were utilized in this study. These animals were classified into three groups (10 animals each) according to their age group. Group 1: immature animals (2- 4 weeks). Group 2: adult (4- 6 months). Group 3: senile (1.5- 2 years). The animals will be anaesthetized by ether inhalation and the epididymis of each was dissected out, cut into small pieces and processed for light and electron microscope examination and morphometrical analysis. For light microscope examination, sections of 5µ were obtained and stained with H & E for studying the general histological structure of the epididymis, Mallory trichrome for demonstrating collagen fibers. Immunohistochemical techniques were applied to study T-lymphocytes morphology and distribution. For electron microscope examination, the epididymis was cut into small pieces, fixed in gluteraldehyde and osmium tetroxide and processed to obtain ultra thin sections (90 nm) that stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate to be examined with transmission electron microscope. Semi thin sections were stained with toluidine-blue and examined with light .