The gross anatomy of the accessory glands of the human male genital tract has been known for many centuries but even today there is only scant knowledge about the function of these organs. Reference to the text of Mann (1964) and to books edited by Greep and Astwood (1975) and Brandes (1974) provide a wealth of information about mammalian accessory gland function but serve only to emphasize how...

Many studies have attempted to account for variation in male reproductive success by quantifying a single trait such as an ornament or a behavior, but male reproductive performance may be determined by a number of interacting traits. Although developmental nutrition is often a major determinant of adult body size and secondary sexual trait expression, other factors—such as residual shape variat...

Bumble bee pollinated Chamaecrista fasciculata provides pollen as the sole reward to its pollinators. Male sterility, expressed as an absence or nearly complete absence of pollen production, occurs in low frequency in populations of C. fasciculata. Here we describe experiments, using C. fasciculata, to examine frequently cited determinants of the spread and maintenance of male sterility: compen...

Most accounts of human life history propose that women have short reproductive spans relative to their adult lifespans, while men not only remain fertile but carry on reproducing until late life. Here we argue that studies have overlooked evidence for variation in male reproductive ageing across human populations. We apply a Bayesian approach to census data from Agta hunter-gatherers and Gambia...

Reproductive tract abnormalities and male infertility have higher incidence in ADPKD patients than in general populations. In this work, we reveal that Pkd1, whose mutations account for 85% of ADPKD cases, is essential for male reproductive tract development. Disruption of Pkd1 caused multiple organ defects in the murine male reproductive tract. The earliest visible defect in the Pkd1(-/-) repr...

The discovery in the mid-1970s that occupational exposures to pesticides could diminish or destroy the fertility of workers sparked concern about the effects of hazardous substances on male reproductive health. More recently, there is evidence that sperm quantity and quality may have declined worldwide, that the incidence of testicular cancer has progressively increased in many countries, and t...

This study explored factors that influence male involvement in reproductive health in western Kenya. Qualitative study design was used. From December 2008 to February 2009, data were collected via in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) at three provinces of western Kenya. Twelve in-depth interviews and eight FGDs were conducted. Five participants in in-depth interviews were fema...

Female Drosophila melanogaster frequently mate with multiple males, and the success of a given male depends not only on his genotype but also on the genotype of his competitor. Here, we assess how natural genetic variation affects male-male interactions for traits influencing pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection. Males from a set of 66 chromosome substitution lines were competed against eac...

Problem: The sequential changes in the immunogenicity of spermatozoa in male reproductive tract and the effect of seminal vesicle secretions are long thought to act as central players in influencing immunological equilibrium in the male reproductive tract. Method of Study: Popliteal lymph nodes of mice were collected on the 8th day after sensitizing them with the testicular and epididymal sperm...

Reproductive dysfunction and malignancies related to the male gender represent a serious health concern, whose incidence has significantly risen over the past years. Prior to treatment, testicular or prostate cancer patients often display poor semen characteristics similar to subfertile or infertile patients. This fact is underscored by cases where the malignancy is often diagnosed in males who...