Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3325/cmj.2019.60.150
Reinke’s crystals in perivascular and peritubular Leydig cells of men with nonobstructive and obstructive azoospermia: a retrospective case-control study
Monica Di Luca
; Frederic Destrebecq, Giovanni
Abstract
Aim To analyze the differences in the population of perivascular
and peritubular Leydig cells (LC) and the number of
Reinke’s crystals (RCs) in the testicles of infertile men with
non-obstructive and obstructive azoospermia.
Methods This retrospective case-control study was conducted
on the testicle tissue of infertile men with obstructive
(n = 10) and those with non-obstructive azoospermia
(n = 100). Stereological analysis was performed on 7-μm
paraffin sections. Measurements were carried out by using
the Weibel multipurpose test system.
Results Patients with non-obstructive azoospermia had
a higher total/absolute number of LCs in the perivascular
space (P = 0.034). In these patients, no significant difference
was found in the total and absolute number of RCs
between the peritubular and perivascular space. Patients
with obstructive azoospermia had around three times
higher absolute number of RCs in both the peritubular and
perivascular spaces (P = 0.002; P < 0.001) than non-obstructive
group. Conclusion Our results suggest that in patients with nonobstructive
azoospermia LCs migrated or had different
densities in the peritubular and perivascular space compared
with patients with obstructive azoospermia. Moreover,
the lower number of RCs could imply their utilization
by LCs in testosterone production.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
240020
URI
Publication date:
15.4.2019.
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