The jelly-like gubernaculum testis (GT) is a hydrated structure consisting of a concentric sheath of dense connective tissue around a loose mesenchymal core, with two cords of skeletal muscle cells asymmetrically placed alongside. Expansion of the GT occurs during the transabdominal phase of testicular descent, linked to cell proliferation together with modifications of the hydric content of the organ. The aim of this study was to detect immunohistochemically the presence of aquaporins (AQPs), integral membrane proteins permitting passive transcellular water movement, in the canine GTs. Samples (n=15) were obtained from pregnancies of 9 medium sized bitches and dissected from healthy fetuses. Five fetuses were aged 35-45 days of gestation, 10 fetuses from 46 days of gestation to delivery, thus offering us the opportunity to study the progressive maturation of the gubernacula. The presence of AQP3, 4, 7, 8 and -9 was assessed in the muscular components of the GT, some of them (AQP3, AQP4, AQP7) with increasing intensity through the second half of pregnancy up to term. AQP1 was localized in the capillary and venous endothelia in the younger fetuses, also in the artery adventitia and in the nerve perineurium in progressively older fetuses. These data demonstrate the potential importance and contribution of AQP-mediated water flux in hydration and volume modification of the growing GT in a canine model.
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