GC: n

S: http://radiopaedia.org/articles/wolffian-duct (last access: 19 June 2016); https://courses.washington.edu/conj/bess/differentiation/differentiation.htm (last access: 19 June 2016).

N: 1. Wolffian (adj): From last name of Kaspar Friedrich Wolff (1733-1794), German anatomist and embryologist + English -an.
First Known Use: 1876.
duct (n): 1640s, “course, direction,” from Latin ductus “a leading,” past participle of ducere “to lead”. Anatomical sense is from 1660s. Meaning “conduit, channel” is 1713; that of “air tube in a structure” is from 1884.
2. The duct of the mesonephros that persists in the female chiefly as part of a vestigial organ and in the male as the duct system leaving the testis and including the epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicle, and ejaculatory duct
3. Wolffian duct, also called Archinephric Duct, one of a pair of tubes that carry urine from primitive or embryonic kidneys to the exterior or to a primitive bladder. In amphibians the reproductive system encroaches on the Wolffian duct; in some species the duct carries both urine and sperm, but most amphibians develop a separate tube to carry urine from the kidney.
In advanced vertebrates the Wolffian duct develops in conjunction with the embryonic kidneys. The mature kidney drains through the ureter, however, and the Wolffian duct develops into parts of the male reproductive system.

S: 1. MW – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wolffian (last access: 19 June 2016); OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=duct (last access: 19 June 2016). 2. MW – http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wolffian%20duct (last access: 19 June 2016). 3. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/science/Wolffian-duct (last access: 19 June 2016).

SYN: mesonephric duct

S: GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=8445532 (last access: 19 June 2016)

CR: wolffian