MAN ENOUGH: A JOURNEY ACROSS THE BASIS OF THE MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM IN HUMANS

So yesterday 14th of February happened to be the day in which the essentiality of true LOVE is always being celebrated all over the world. Even my neighbor who for a while now has been without a job was all smiles this morning. Well, I'm not a wicked person, but honestly throughout the Valentine's Day I was expecting to see him and his significant other displaying the kind of fight you only get to see in Nollywood movie productions. However, that didn't happen. Before you start mistaking me for one who derives pleasure from another man's misfortune, as we move ahead you'll get to know the reason for my weird statement.

Like I said earlier on, my neighbor Mr. Eric has been without a job for quite some times now. Actually the company where he was working had financial crisis and so decided to cut down their work force in order to reduce vast expenditures. Unfortunately he was among those whose appointments were terminated. To make matters worse, in this part of the world where being employed virtually depends on the level of one's connection; I guess since Eric is not related to any big name, his application letters so far yielded no positive results. But as a hardworking guy, he has been surviving on manual labors just to keep life going.

Now, you don't expect someone who could barely afford a steady square meal daily to spend exorbitantly all in the name of showcasing love. At the same time, you'll agree with me that one can still put forward a display of genuine love even through moderate spending. Well, this wasn't the case for Eric. According to him, love is an everyday thing and that he sees Valentine's Day spending as unnecessary. Surprisingly, his significant other, Sandra shared the same view. At this point, I couldn't help but ask Sandra jokingly why she's still falling for a broke guy like Eric that's not even man enough. She pouted her lips and said, "Neighbor I really don't know. Nothing confuses a lady like a broke guy who's good in bed". Sincerely speaking I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. After our rib-cracking chitchat, I decided to write about this very male endowment that's making Sandra confused. Saddle your seat belt as we take this ride together.

Lets start with the basic concepts...

In actuality, reproduction is one of the characteristics of living things that is studied right from the elementary level, although certain things may be consciously overlooked by the teacher depending on factors such as age of the students, religious beliefs, etc. I'm sorry for digressing. I know what I just said had nothing to do with what we were about discussing. Having said that; it might interest you to know that unlike other living things that reproduce sexually, the mammalians are the only animals that possess both internal and external reproductive organs. For other classes of living things, they have only internal reproductive organs. These organs that are seen outside the body are called the external genitals and there help differentiate male from the female mammals. For instance, the external genitals of a male human are the two scrotal sacs and the Penis. As proven by several research studies, it's believed that while inside the womb, quite a number of males have empty scrotal sacs. The reason for this is because the testes that are felt inside the scrotal sacs later on in life were present in the lower part of the young male's abdomen and only descended into the scrotal sacs within the first 4 to 6 months after birth. Well, out of curiosity someone might want to ask if there could be a situation where one or both testes refuse to descend into the scrotal sac(s). The answer is yes. In fact the name given to such a condition is Cryptorchidism.

Bringing it down to a layman's level, I'd love to pinpoint that cryptorchidism to some extent is not so bad if one of the testes descends into the scrotum. The reason for my assertion is based on the fact that in a situation where one of the testes is present in the scrotum, experts affirm that it can still perform the functions that two testes would have done. As a matter of fact we could liken this particular condition to a situation where an individual has one kidney, lung, or ovary, instead of the normal two. Even though these organs will definitely be overworked, but as long as there are good, there can still perform their respective functions. That notwithstanding, in the case whereby both testes descended into the scrotal sacs but one of them got physically damaged; it will definitely sound irrational if I conclude emphatically that it won't affect an individual's sex life or reproduction. In such a situation, I'd advise you seek the help of a medical professional. To know more about this abnormally, you can check out Wikipedia article on Cryptorchidism

Now the question is, what happens after the testes must have descended into the scrotal sacs?

Earlier on I kept emphasizing on the fact that one testis can still perform the functions meant for two. Now, it might interest you to know that the functions I was talking about were production of sperms and sex hormone (testosterone). How these phenomena are initiated is what we'll be looking at soon enough. But before we consider how the testes perform its functions, there's something important I want to point out. At puberty, the males start secreting an hormone responsible for regulating the functions of the testes. The name of this hormone is pituitary gonadotrophin. From the name, you'll know that it's secreted by the gonadotrope cells of the pituitary gland. At this point I'd love to say that the functions of the testes mentioned earlier on greatly depends on this hormone.

Actually, from our high school knowledge of biology, we were told that

each testis consist of hundreds of compartments packed with many tiny coiled tubes commonly known as the seminiferous tubules.

It didn't end there. All the seminiferous tubules in the testes literally come together to form a larger tubule called the epididymis. What you should know is that the epididymis is always outside the testes. To be more specific, it's located interiorly (that is inside the body). From there, the epididymis leads into a muscular sperm duct (referred to as vas deferens). The pathway continues into the urethra which is also a muscular tube that passes through the Penis. As we move ahead you'll get to understand why I took time to highlight on each of these important internal reproductive organs.

Well, when we talk about testes performing the functions of testosterone and sperm productions, the particular site where these takes place is the seminiferous tubules. The interstitial cells found in between this tubules are responsible for the production of testosterone. In the case of sperm production, research has it that 300 millions of sperms are being produced at the seminiferous tubules daily. Remember, in the above paragraph I made mentioned of the fact that the testes has many compartments packed with seminiferous tubules. How this tubules produce sperm is that there are lined by a layer of actively dividing cells. Funnily enough, this is where your knowledge of meiosis will be tested. On a more serious note, sperm production begins when one of these actively dividing cells migrate, enlarge, and split to form immature spermatids. After a while, the immature spermatids gradually mature into spermatozoa with tails. At this phase of their lives the spermatozoa are not yet motile but are only carried passively to the epididymis where they're stored. It's at the epididymis that the spermatozoa mature into motile sperms and the estimated period of time for this process to occur is 72 days.

Since the sperms are matured and can as well move, this time around they actively migrate to the sperm duct where they can remain viable for up to 3 months. Let me guess, someone might want to know what happens if after 3 months the sperms are not 'released'. The truth is that they're used up by the body. How the body makes use of them is a whole long but fascinating gist for another day. Well, I said something about the sperms being released. Now, I'd love to say that the sperms can never be released the way they are because not even a single one of them would survive. On the other hand, sperms are always mixed up with vital fluids and in this form there are collectively known as semen. These fluids are actually secretions from the three accessory glands namely:
• Seminal vesicles
• Prostate glands
• Cowper's glands.

As a matter of fact, the secretions from these glands perform tremendous functions that are very essential for the potency and survival of the sperm. For instance, it's believed that about 60% of the fluids that make up the semen are secretions from seminal vesicles. Based on studies, the seminal fluid is said to be released from the vesicles into the ejaculatory duct during ejaculation. It's at that point both components (seminal fluid and sperm) mixes with each other. Since the seminal fluid contains several key components like fructose, the roles it performs include; aiding the motility of the sperms as well as providing nutrients that'll help nourish the sperms. In addition to this, the remaining percentage of fluid that makes up the semen is the secretions from the prostate gland known as prostate fluid. The prostate fluid also performs similar functions like the seminal vesicles. Aside from nourishing and aiding the movement of the sperm, the prostate fluid also has protective abilities. Now, how this fluid mixes with the sperms and seminal fluid is that during ejaculation, the muscles of the prostate gland squeezes out the prostate fluid and by so doing, it propels the 3 components (prostate fluid, seminal fluid and sperms) into the urethra (a muscular tube that passes through the Penis).

If you've been following me carefully you'll notice that all the fluids we've discussed so far are released when the sperms are also expelled. Now, someone smart enough may wish to know where the first fluid that flows out when one is aroused comes from. The answer is the Cowper's gland. Experts suggest that it's the first gland that's triggered during arousal. It secretes a fluid we normally call pre-cum. Well, the formal name is pre-ejaculate. As funny as this may sound, so many people feel that pre-ejaculate is capable of getting one pregnant. Personally I won't say this conception is right or wrong since I want you to deduce the answer yourself after this brief explanation. Now recall that the urethra and Penis are both urinogenital organs. In a simple word we can say that they perform dual purposes which are acting as route for excretion of urine and ejaculation. Normally, the urine is acidic in nature and can kill the sperms. So what the Cowper's gland does is that it secretes pre-ejaculate mainly for one reason, and that is to neutralize acidity produced by any urine present in the urethra before the semen (i.e sperms, seminal fluid and prostate fluid) is released.

Final thoughts

The concept of the male reproductive system is a broad one but still I decided to focus on the basis. In fact, I'd love to conclude it this way... Your reproductive health is very important and it deserves all the attention you can possibly give. It doesn't really matter if you are the wealthiest man in the world; honestly, if your reproductive system is not in a good shape or condition, then you're still miles away from being man enough. I sincerely hope you've learned a thing or two from this article. Thanks for doing this with me. Till next time!

To read more about this topic, check out these REFERENCES

Male reproductive system from wikipedia.org
Understanding the male urogenital system anatomy. Retrieved on the 15th of February, 2019

Ramalingam, S. (2011). Modern Biology, 6th Edition. Nigeria: Africana First Publishers Plc, pp. 450-452.

Image sources

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