Revisiting structure/functions of the human epididymis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The epididymis is the hallmark of all vertebrate species practicing internal fertilization. While the functions of the epididymis are well documented in laboratory rodents and some domestic animals, the structure and functions of the epididymis in humans remain poorly documented. OBJECTIVES: Using human tissues obtained with the collaboration of our local organ transplantation program, the histology, cell types, and three-dimensional organization of the excurrent duct were investigated. Microarrays were performed to determine the gene expression pattern along the human epididymis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The histology of longitudinal sections of the proximal epididymis was described, and immunohistochemistry using specific antibodies was used to characterize cell types of the efferent duct and caput epididymis epithelia. The epididymis was divided into eight segments permitting gene profiling by microarray and gene ontology analysis. RESULTS: The proximal region of the human epididymis is formed exclusively by efferent ducts. These ducts form a complex histological structure particularly at the junction of the efferent ducts and caput epididymis. The efferent ducts exhibit a specific cellular signature when compared with the adjacent epididymis tubule. Efferent duct gene expression is not segmented and is dedicated to cilium differentiation and movement. The gene expression pattern of the caput segment is homogeneous and specialized in defense and immune responses and fertilization. DISCUSSION: In murine species, the epididymis is segmented into the initial segment, caput, corpus, and cauda regions, whereas in humans, the proximal region is formed by efferent ducts. The caput tubules have their own histological organization with a well-defined gene expression pattern. The distal corpus and cauda epididymis are distinct by a limited number of differentially expressed genes. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of epididymis functions and structure obtained using laboratory species should be extrapolated to humans with caution.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".