[The ependymal lining of the infundibular recess in males and hermaphrodites in small ruminants in scanning electron microscopy]

Abstract

A scanning electron microscope was used to study the surface of the ependymal epithelium of the lower part of the third cerebral ventricle of rams, he-goats, and in one goat with a developmental sexual disorder (testicular hermaphroditism). During mating, the apical membranes of the ependymal tanycytes of the rams and billy goats were found to be covered by numerous blebs (ependymosecretion). It was only in the billy goats in the mating season (not in the rams) that individual supraependymal cells with protrusions forming "ruffled membranes" were present on the surface of the infundibular recession. Although the finding on the sexual organs of the hermaphrodite was closer to the male, the presence of the large number of supraependymal cells was rather a female trait. As suggested by the results, it is also in the males of small ruminants that the activity of the sexual organs is associated with the structure and function of the ependymal epithelium in the infundibular recess.