Male Reproductive System

The reproductive apparatus of males is different from female concerning not only primary but also accessory organs.

The primary organs include the gonades, or sex glands which produce the germ cells and manufacture hormones. The male gonads are testes. They are located outside the body between the thighs in a sac called the scrotum. In the testes there are seminiferous tubules in whose wall cells produce spermatozoa. Between the tubules there are interstitial cells that secrete the male sex hormone testosterone.

Testosterone has two functions:

- the maintenance of the reproductive structures, including development of spermatozoa;

- the development of secondary sex characteristics (accessory).

In the scrotum there is also a greatly coiled tube (6 meters long) called the epididymis. While spermatozoa are temporarily stored in the epididymis, they mature and become motile (рухливі), that is, able to move by themselves.

The epididymis enters the vas deferens. This duct continues through the abdominal cavity and then curves behind the urinary bladder. There each was deferens joins with the duct of the seminal vesicle and forms the ejaculatory duct. The two ejaculatory ducts enter the body of the prostate gland. Ducts from the prostate carry its secretion into the urethra. The urethra passes outside the body through the penis (phallus). It is composed of erective tissue and a soft sensitive part called the glans penis.

The male reproductive system