Epididymal Lipid of the Rat With and Without Testicular Contribution

Summary. The efferent ducts of male rats were ligated and severed unilaterally to prevent passage of materials into the epididymis. The contralateral testis-epididymis complex served as control. Total lipid, free, total and esterified cholesterol, phospholipid and triglyceride were analysed on both contralateral control and isolated tissues at 1, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days after surgery. Histological examination of the surgically isolated epididymides revealed the absence of spermatozoa in the caput at 1 day, corpus at 7 days and cauda at 21 days after surgery. With removal of spermatozoa from an area, lipid fractions tended generally to increase in concentration. Free cholesterol, as the percentage of cholesterol, was far lower than has been reported in the testis.