Lymphocyte infiltration in human testicular biopsies.

Testicular biopsies from 166 men with a clinical diagnosis of azoospermia or oligozoospermia were analysed for the presence of leucocytic infiltrations. In 8 cases (4.8%) a pronounced focal or general leucocytic 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, but 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 testis more often than has been suspected.