testicle

(tes’tik-l) [L. festic’udus]. Either one of the two glands which produce semen. It is an ovoid body, suspended in the scrotum from its posterior edge by the spermatic cord. 11 is inclosed in three tunics—the ‘unica vaginal is, a serous sac, derived from the peritoneum and consisting of two layers, a viscerul and a parietal layer; the tunica albuginea, a strong fibrous tunic; and the tunica vasculosa (or pia mater testis), composed chiefly of blood-ve els held together by areolar ti ue. This latter lines the tunica albuginea and the various septa within the testicle. The posterior border of the tunica albuginea is reflected into the interior of the gland, forming an incomplete septum, the mediastinum testis, or corpus highmorianum, from which numerous septa are given off, dividing the interior of the testicle into cone-shaped spaces. The spaces contain the lobules (Jobuli testis), which consist of one or more convoluted tubes (seminiferous tubules), which by their union form larger tubules (tubuli vecli or straight tubules). The tubuli recti enter the mediastinum, there forming the rete testis, from which spring 12 to 20 efferent tubes (ras a efferent i a). These penetrate the tunica albuginea and form on top of the testicle the head of the epididymis, in which the convoluted ducts are coiled in the form of conic ma es (coni vasculosi) They empty into a single convoluted tube (tube of the epididymis), which is continued into the vas deferens. The testicle is contained in the abdomen up to about the eighth month of fetal life, at which time it descends through the inguinal canal into the scrotum. Cooper’s irritable t., a testicle affected with neuralgia. inverted t., a testicle whose position in the scrotum is reversed, the epididymis being attached to the anterior instead of the posterior surface. pulpy t., a testicle affected with medullary sarcoma. retained t. Same as undescended t. undescended t., the state in which the testicle fails to descend into the scrotum, but remains in the inguinal canal.