Bm. Mcallan et al., SEASONAL-CHANGES IN THE REPRODUCTIVE ANATOMY OF MALE ANTECHINUS-STUARTII (MARSUPIALIA, DASYURIDAE), Journal of morphology, 231(3), 1997, pp. 261-275
Male Antechinus stuartii (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) undergo significant
endocrinological changes during their life history. The endocrine cha
nges are associated with complete male mortality. The accessory reprod
uctive tract of males is important for seminal plasma production, and
changes associated with the reproductive cycle were not described in d
etail by earlier studies. The present study sought to describe some of
the seasonal changes in structure of the male accessory reproductive
tract in relation to the known hormonal changes. The epididymis, prost
ate, and bulbourethral glands are relatively undifferentiated in Febru
ary and May, a time when plasma concentrations of testosterone are kno
wn to be low. By July, considerable hypertrophy and differentiation of
the accessory reproductive tract are observed. This is most obvious i
n the bulbourethral glands, which change from being indistinguishable
from one another in February and May to being three large morphologica
lly and histologically distinct glands in July. The hypertrophy and se
cretory activity continue into August, the breeding season. These find
ings correlate with the hormonal profiles found in other studies of A.
stuartii. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.