Adrenergic innervation of the ductus deferens in young and aging rats: a morpho-functional investigation

The pattern of adrenergic innervation and the responsiveness to alpha-agonists of the epididymal and prostatic portions of the ductus deferens from young and aging rats were examined. The histochemical pictures showed that the distribution of the adrenergic fibres varies between the 2 ends of the ductus deferens, with a greater density in the prostatic portion. Tissues from rats aged 20 months showed the same difference in the adrenergic pattern between the 2 portions. Generally, the fluorescent bundles from the tissues of senescent animals seemed to be more numerous and compact. The functional data appear to be in contrast with the morphological observations, because the epididymal tract of young rats showed the highest responsiveness to alpha-agonists. An inverse correlation between the number of adrenergic fibres and receptor responsiveness is hypothesized.