1. Urethral plug-a new secondary male sex characteristic in rat and other rodents
- Author
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I. Kunstýř, Werner Küpper, Susanne Naumann, Herwig Weisser, and Claus Messow
- Subjects
Male ,Adult male ,Guinea Pigs ,Rodentia ,Biology ,Body weight ,law.invention ,Mice ,Urethra ,law ,Cricetinae ,medicine ,Animals ,PROXIMAL URETHRA ,Ejaculation ,Spark plug ,Muridae ,Mesocricetus ,General Veterinary ,Anatomy ,biology.organism_classification ,Rats ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Amino acid composition ,Female ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Gerbillinae - Abstract
The plug is an eosinophilic mass, partly homogenous and partly porous, filling the proximal urethra in rats and occasionally extending into the bladder. Its average weight in 131 adult rats was 0·063 g. These plugs are normally present in the urethra of adult male rats, and this seems to be the case for all laboratory Muridae and Cavidae. The absence of a plug in an adult male may be a sign of abnormality associated with failing health. There is an interesting similarity between the amino acid composition of the content of seminal vesicles, that of the urethral plug, and that of the copulatory vaginal plug in female rodents.
- Published
- 1982
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