Science, asked by alpadhall, 10 months ago

state the role of scrotum,prostate gland and vas deferens

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Answered by Anonymous
1

Answer:-

These are distinct body parts, but because they have similar functions (to wit, they transport sperm cells from one anatomical structure to another) they have similar names. We most often refer to the former in the singular, as you have done here. There are two of them, however, and if we compare the plural of both names, they are vasa deferentia and vasa efferentia, or ductus deferentes and ductus efferentes.

There's not much difference in what these names mean. They come from the Latin de+ferre and ex+ferre, respectively, both meaning "carry away". The use of the term vas deferens has become so entrenched that the English word "deferent" has come to mean "related to the vas deferens" as in "deferent arteries”. Some similar sounding words such as "defer" and "deferencLike it or not, vas deferens has become adopted as the English name. We know this because it is no longer subject to any of the rules of Latin. For example, instead of saying, "both vasa deferentia", we say "both vas deferens". I will go with the flow and act like it's an English term, or even, as is the custom in clinic, use "vas" for short.

No such consensus exists with regard to the vasa efferentia, however. Most articles on the subject begin with a laundry list of possible names. But in this case, we are not compelled to adopt a name from Latin. This is because one of the Latin synonyms for this term, ductus efferentes, has been Anglicized to "efferent ducts", and I see no reason why we should bother with Latin when we have a perfectly good name for something in English.

Having considered nomenclature, we can focus on the physical parts by asking:

What is the difference between the vas deferens and the efferent ducts?

Put simply, both are tubes of smooth muscle tissue with cilia inside to propel sperm through a physical barrier to get sperm from one part of the male reproductive system to another.

The vas deferens transport sperm from within the scrotum (ball sack), through the abdominal muscle wall, into the prostate. There are two of them, each about one foot, or 30 cms, long. In a warm shower, with the scrotum relaxed and hanging, gently squeeze the sack above the balls between your thumb and index finger. You will feel many strings going straight up and down, vertically. On each side, there is one that is thicker and firmer than the rest. They feel like cooked spaghetti. Those are the vas deferens.

The efferent ducts transport sperm from inside the testes, through the tunica wall, into the epididymis, which is the soft, spongy thing you can feel attached to a testis at the top and down one side, usually the back. There are 15 to 20 efferent ducts on each side. They are very small, 2-3 mm, and move sperm, by cilia and smooth muscle contractions.

THE JOURNEY OF A SPERM

Tracing the route a sperm travels will show the role played by vas deferens and efferent ducts. The immature male gonads are called testicles. Once puberty begins, they are called testes (singular testis). Male sex cells begin in the seminiferous tubules of the testes. The cells go through various stages before they become mature sperm.

The sperm are drawn into a network of tubes called the rete testis, where they are well mixed before transfer into the efferent ducts. Here 95% of the fluid they are in is reabsorbed to increase sperm concentration. The testes are encased in a tough, fibrous membrane called the tunica albuginea. Sperm pass through this membrane by the efferent ducts which concentrates and transports them into the head of the epididymis.

The epididymis is a single tube, 18 to 20 feet long (6 to 7 meters) coiled up to the length of the testes to which they are attached. When sperm come into the head of the epididymis through the efferent ducts, they can't swim. They finish maturing in the 2 to 3 months it takes to move to the tail, where they are stored. The tail of the epididymis becomes the start of the vas deferens.

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