Give an account of the secondary sex organs of human male reproductive system

Explanation

The secondary sex organs of human male reproductive system are as follows:
(i) Accessory duct system It includes rete testis, vasa efferentia, epididymis and vas deferens.
The intratesticular duct system starts with tubuli recti and connects the seminiferous tubules to the highly anastomosing, cuboidal epithelium-lined channels called rete testis.
From rete testis, 10-25 fine tubules called vasa efferentia arise to leave the testes and open into epididymis. They carry sperms outside the body.
Epididymis is a long tube which is greatly coiled and tightly packed to form an elongated flattened body.
The vas deferens ascends to the abdomen and loops over urinary bladder. It receives a duct from seminal vesicle to form ejaculatory duct, which passes through the prostate gland and opens into the urethra that further passes through the penis to its external opening called urethral meatus.
(ii) Accessory glands The accessory glands or the secondary glands include prostate gland, a pair of seminal vesicles and Cowper.s gland or bulbourethral glands.
(a) Prostate glands These glands secrete mucus and a slightly alkaline fluid. The secretion contains lipids, enzymes, citric acid, etc., which is released during ejaculation and helps to neutralise the acidic medium of vagina and urethra, making sperms more active to swim.
(b) Seminal vesicles They secrete mucus and a watery alkaline fluid that contains nutrients including the sugar fructose which acts as an energy source for the sperms.
(c) Bulbourethral glands or Cowper.s glands These are situated beneath the bladder and behind the urethra and secrete mucus and an, alkaline fluid that aids in neutralisation of urine in urethra and in the lubrication of penis.
The secretion of all these glands is collectively known as seminal plasma. Seminal plasma along with the sperms is called semen.