Obstructive uropathy and hydronephrosis in male KK-A(y) mice: A report of cases

Uropathy associated with hydronephrosis was observed frequently in our male KK-Ay mouse colony during a long-term study of diabetes. The lesion occurr ed in 24 of the 31 KK-A(y) male mice and accounted for the greatest number of spontaneous deaths among them. It was observed after 4 months of age and involved about hard plugs of altered seminal material resembling the semin al vesicle secretion. The plugs became impacted in the urethral bulb and th e bladder. The penile anatomy, with its flexure, pressure on the urethra fr om the bulbocavernosus muscle, and the characteristic ability of the semina l fluid to easily coagulate to form the vaginal plug may have contributed t o the lesion. Correlation between development of the uropathy and diabetes has not been established.