Spermatic Cord

00:01 So let's just link this all together then and look at the coverings of the spermatic cord.

00:06 And I've mentioned this a few times.

00:08 But this very simple diagram, helpfully helps to add some more context and information to this topic.

00:16 So we can see high within the developing embryo.

00:19 We have the testes or the gonads within the biological male located within the lower aspect of the abdomen.

00:26 And during the course of development, so those testes will migrate all the way down into their scrotal sac where they retain within the adult.

00:34 And as they do this they pass through the anterior abdominal wall.

00:39 And here we can see that in the diagram with the coverings of the testes and the spermatic cord.

00:45 So here we can see the ductus deferens passing all the way within the spermatic cord, passing to the testes.

00:52 We can also see we have the transversalis fascia.

00:56 So we can see this indicated in green.

00:59 Now if we look, we've got in purple the peritoneum and then the transversalis fascia is that layer deepest of the anterior abdominal wall.

01:08 Because it's the deepest in the anterior abdominal wall, the testee is going to penetrate the transversalis fascia first.

01:16 So it's like putting your finger through a balloon.

01:18 That layer of the balloon then covers around your finger.

01:22 Transversalis fascia is now covering around the testee.

01:27 And as the testee then migrates all the way through, it takes with it this layer of transversalis fascia that forms this internal covering.

01:36 We call it the internal spermatic fascia.

01:40 Also passing through this region, we have the internal oblique muscle.

01:44 Remember testes went underneath the inferior boundary of transversus abdominis muscle so it doesn't have a layer.

01:52 But now in essence, we have our second balloon.

01:54 We've passed through the first balloon which is transversalis fascia.

01:58 We're now passing through a second balloon, which is internal oblique muscle.

02:03 And as it passes through internal oblique muscle, because this is muscle fiber, it forms the cremesteris fascia or muscle.

02:11 A very thin layer of muscle that is in between the internal spermatic fascia and what we'll soon see is the external spermatic fascia.

02:20 The final layer that the testee passed through as it migrated through the aponeurosis of external oblique muscle is the external spermatic fascia.

02:29 So it's passed through three layers.

02:32 External oblique muscle. We have internal oblique muscle.

02:36 We have transversus abdominis, and then transversalis fascia.

02:40 As the testee passed through transversalis fascia, it went under transversus abdominis.

02:46 It then went through internal oblique and external oblique.

02:50 And these layers form the internal spermatic fascia, the cremaster fascia, and the external spermatic fascia that surround the testes.

03:01 There was the final layer that I mentioned a moment ago, and this is the parietal peritoneum.

03:05 We'll talk about the peritoneum much later on.

03:08 But this is the deepest of those layers.

03:10 And although the testee penetrates that it doesn't take a layer with it.

03:15 It penetrates through the parietal peritoneum, which does then retain some of it, but is not connected, and that's known as the Tunica vaginalis.