Lymphocyte infiltration in human testicular biopsies

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Abstract
Testicular biopsies from 166 men with a clinical diagnosis of azoospermia or oligozoospermia were analyzed for the presence of leukocytic infiltrations. In 8 cases (4.8%) a pronounced focal or general leukocytic infiltration was found. In all cases the vast majority of the cells were lymphocytes and their presence was not correlated to the histopathological diagnosis. Usually the lymphocytes were within the interstitial tissue; in one case the lymphocytes were migrating through the wall of the seminiferous tubules. The spermatogenesis was most disturbed in the tubules located beneath the lymphocytic infiltrations. The changes observed were morphologically very similar to those described in experimental autoimmune orchitis and, therefore, it may be suggested that immunological processes might mediate the deleterious effects of different factors on the tesits more often than has been suspected.