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EFFECT OF DIVISION OF GENITOFEMORAL NERVE ON TESTICULAR DESCENT IN THE RAT
Author(s) -
Beasley SpencerW.,
Hutson JohnM.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.1987.tb01239.x
Subject(s) - medicine , descent (aeronautics) , denervation , inguinal canal , abdomen , anatomy , surgery , inguinal hernia , hernia , engineering , aerospace engineering
The gubemaculum, which has an important role to play in testicular descent, is richly supplied by the genital branch of the genitofemoral nerve through its scrotal attachment. In neonatal rats the genitofemoral nerve overlying the psoas muscle was divided before inguinal descent would normally occur, and the effect of this procedure on subsequent testicular descent was observed. Denervation of the gubemaculum caused the testes to remain in the abdomen. The significance of this finding in the rat is that an intact genitofemoral nerve is an essential prerequisite for normal descent, perhaps by allowing the gubemaculum to evert.