Morphofunctional features of the vas deferens and their sphincter systems in fur animals

The article presents the results of morphofunctional studies of the vas deferens and their sphincter systems in fur animals, representatives of the mustelids and canids families. The research was carried out on the basis of the Department of Anatomy, Histology, Physiology and Pathological Anatomy of the Omsk State Agrarian University. Sections obtained using a rotary microtome were stained using the Van-Gieson method with haematoxylin and eosin, and studied under a “Reichertˮ light microscope. The object of the study were males of American mink and silver-black fox. The vas deferens in representatives of the mustelids and canids, passes through the inguinal canal and, further, from the inner inguinal ring as part of the fold of the vas deferens is directed into the abdominal cavity. Near the neck of the bladder, the vas deferens passes dorsolateral from the urethra and flows into it near the seminal mound. The prostate ducts also open there. There were no fundamental differences in the histological structure of the organ in representatives of mustelids and canids. The mucous membrane of the vas deferens is represented by a single layer lying on its own plate. The thickness of the mucous membrane epithelium in the left vas deferens was 25.50 ± 5.87 microns in the American mink, 50.0 ± 3.78 microns in the silver-black fox; in the right vas deferens - 36.33 ± 2.99 microns and 41.35 ± 2.76 microns, correspondingly. The muscle coat in the studied animals consists of three layers of smooth muscle cells - internal and external longitudinal and middle, consisting of circularly arranged muscle fibers. The thickness of the muscular membrane in the left vas deferens was 111.21 ± 3.29 microns in the American mink, 315.72 ± 2.76 microns in the silver-black fox; in the right vas deferens - 120.30 ± 3.17 µm and 211.21 ± 3.29 µm, respectively. The adventitia is represented by a loose fibrous connective tissue containing blood vessels. The revealed taperings of the vas deferens throughout its entire length, together with the features of the architectonics of the smooth muscle fibers of the muscular membrane of the organ, as well as the characteristic folding of the mucous membrane, indicate the presence of epithelial and muscular sphincters in the organ.