@article{oai:nagoya.repo.nii.ac.jp:00016645, author = {MORITA, YUH}, issue = {2}, journal = {Nagoya Journal of Medical Science}, month = {Sep}, note = {Histological investigation of the testes of 214 patients with azoospermia, 56 patients with oligozoospermia and 11 men with known fertility was made. In 24 of these cases, 17-ketosteroids and pituitary gonadotropin in urine were determined. Based upon the results of these studies, pathological problems of functional infertility in human male were discussed. 1) No qualitative difference in the histological findings of testes was observed between azoospermia and oligozoospermia. 2) All atrophic testes, smaller than thumb-head by scrotal palpation, showed highly damaged spermatogenesis. 3) In 27% of the patients with oligozoospermia, with less than 20x10^6 per ml in sperm concentration, no spermatozoa were found in the seminiferous tubules of the biopsied specimen. The evidence shows that possibility of histological misdiagnosis is inevitable, though the artefact due to technical procedure has to be taken into account. 4) In 19% of non-obstructive azoospermia, active spermatogenesis was recognized in the majority of the seminiferous tubules. The epididymo-vasal secretion of them did not contain any spermatozoa. The evidence calls for the necessity of examination of the rete testis and the distal end of the seminiferous tubules. 5) In normals, the mean thickness of the tubular walls ranged from 4.5 to 5.5 μ. In hypofunctional testes, the distribution could be grossly divided into two groups, one group with the tubular walls as thin as the normals and the other the group with tubular walls thicker than 6.5 μ. 6) In normals; the mean diameter of the seminiferous tubules ranged closely around 150 μ. In oligozoospermia, the distribution was grossly divided into two groups, one with the tubular lumina as wide as the normals and the other with narrow tubular lumina, less than 110 μ in diameter. 7) Generally, the development of germinal cells was well maintained in tubules with thin walls and wide lumina, and Leydig cells were distributed normally around these tubules. On the contrary, germinal maturation was lowered in tubules with fibrously thickened walls and narrow lumina, and Leydig cells were hyperplastic to various degrees. 8) The histological picture of testis in infertile human male closely resembles to experimentally allergic lesion of testis in guinea-pig or rat.}, pages = {113--129}, title = {Histological Investigation of Testis in Infertile Man : Part II. Pathological Problems}, volume = {34}, year = {1971} }