Aim: To establish a rat and mouse epididymal map based on the use of the Epiquatre automatic software for histologic image analysis.

Methods: Epididymides from five adult rats and five adult mice were fixed in alcoholic Bouin's fixative and embedded in paraffin. Serial longitudinal sections through the medial aspect of the organ were cut at 10 μm and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. As determined from major connective tissue septa, nine subdivisions of the rat epididymis and seven for the mouse were determined, consisting of five sub-regions in the caput (rat and mouse), one (mouse) or three (rat) in the corpus and one in the cauda (rat and mouse). Using the Epiquatre software, several tubular, luminal and epithelial morphometric parameters were evaluated.

Results: Statistical comparison of the quantitative parameters revealed regional differences (2–5 in the rat, 3–6 in the mouse, dependent on parameters) with caput regions 1 and 2 being largely distinguishable from the similar remaining caput and corpus, which were in turn recognizable from the cauda regions in both species.

Conclusion: The use of the Epiquatre software allowed us to establish regression curves for different morphometric parameters that can permit the detection of changes in their values under different pathological or experimental conditions.

Keywords: rat, mouse, epididymis, morphometry, zonation, computer-aided image analysis, Epiquatre Software

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