In my textbook it is written that male accessory duct system constitutes the rete testis , vasa efferentia , epididymis and the vas deferens . Can urethra be also included here ?
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Did you consider exploring what these other structures are accessory to? This line of thinking might help here. – theforestecologist Apr 17 '23 at 16:26
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Thank you for your suggestion. But is it because that urethra has only role in providing a comman passage for urine and sperm , but it doesn't have any role in functional maturation of spermatozoa , so it's not part of accessory duct system ? – Kumar Priyanshu Apr 17 '23 at 17:08
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I don't really find this terminology occurring very frequently, so it seems mostly something special to your textbook and others like it. Really the primary content I find online about this particular accessory duct is in the form of multiple-choice homework cheat sites. For example, this search for "accessory duct" epididymis vas deferens includes very few results and some are false-positives.
That said, a duct is:
a bodily tube or vessel especially when carrying the secretion of a gland
Accessory, in this context, has meaning along the lines of additional/supplementary/auxiliary, or not the main/primary, as in the accessory duct of the pancreas. So, an "accessory duct", where the adjective "accessory" modifies "duct", is "another duct in addition to the primary/main one".
The main duct, in this case, would seem to be the urethra itself, something common with the female urogenital anatomy, whereas the male accessory duct is the additional ductwork needed to attach the sperm-producing testis to the outside world. So, no, if you're taking the urethra to be the main duct, it doesn't make sense for it to be an accessory to itself.
Bryan Krause
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