Testicular mast cell heterogeneity in idiopathic male infertility.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if the mast cell subclass changes in diseased testes.


METHODS
Retrospective.


METHODS
University hospital urology clinic and anatomy laboratory.


METHODS
Fourteen normal men and 50 patients with idiopathic male infertility.


METHODS
Histochemical techniques to identify proteoglycans of mast cells were applied to the obtained testicular biopsy specimens.


METHODS
The numbers of the heparin containing mast cell and the chondroitin sulfate containing mast cell were measured with light microscopy.


RESULTS
The total number of mast cells and the ratio of chondoroitin sulfate containing mast cells were significantly increased in the testes from patients with idiopathic male infertility.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that mast cells may play a certain role in the etiology of idiopathic male infertility.
Nagai
T
T
Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Takaba
H
H
Miyake
K
K
Hirabayashi
Y
Y
Yamada
K
K
D000328:Adult; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D009608:Nitrous Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D012016:Reference Values; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology*
D009608:Nitrous Acid