Comparative Histology of the Urethral Mucosa and Its Relation to Gonococcal Infections

Abstract

The mammalian urethral epithelium, from monotremes to monkey, is simple or stratified columnar, transitional, or a so-called squamous type (simple to stratified), depending on the animal studied. (So-called squamous epithelium of man is reported immune to gonococcal infection.) Mucosal glands vary. Glands of Littre are absent. Such variable histological structures do not explain laboratory reports of natural immunity of mammalian urethrae to gonococcal infection.