| Resumo: |
Histomorphometry of the testes and epididymis were carried out on the domesticated adult African great cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus), also known as the grasscutter. The average weight and age of the cane rats used in the study were 1.93 ± 0.42 kg and 18.80 ± 1.39 months respectively. The mean relative volume of the germinal epithelium, interstitium and lumen of the seminiferous tubules of the cane rats were 68.54 ± 1.63%, 8.86 ± 0.85% and 21.40 ± 1.12% respectively. The mean diameter of the seminiferous tubules of the cane rats used for this study was 183.0 ± 11.06 µm. The ductal diameter of the caput, corpus and cauda epididymis were 207.4 ± 7.41 µm, 237.8 ± 10.15 µm and 274.2 ± 9.00 µm respectively, being statistically different (p< 0.05). The epididymal luminal diameters were 95.8 ± 11.52 µm, 126.8 ± 8.35 µm and 221.0 ± 4.05 µm, respectively for the caput, corpus and cauda epididymis. The caput, corpus and cauda epididymis had epithelial heights of 63.6 ± 2.23 µm, 59.20 ± 3.38 µm and 28.60 ± 9.23 µm respectively. There was a high negative correlation (-0.7958) between epithelial height and lumen diameter meaning that with a decrease in the height of the epithelium, the lumen increased significantly. This research work provides base-line data on the histomorphometry of the testes and epididymis of the African great cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus).
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