Regional differences in maturation of germ cells of cryptorchid testes: role of environment.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate differences in maturation of germ cells in cryptorchid testes in three different regions.


METHODS
A total of 103 consecutive patients were operated for unilateral undescended testis in Vojvodina, from March 2006 until September 2007, and had a testicular biopsy performed. Germ cells were counted, and the presence of Ad spermatogonia was noted. Biopsies were compared to biopsies of similar patients from two different regions: Philadelphia, USA (130), and Liestal, Switzerland (55 patients).


RESULTS
In Vojvodina, 84.5% of patients had Sertoli cells only, or some spermatogonia, but no Ad spermatogonia, and 15.5% had Ad spermatogonia. In Philadelphia, 59.3% of patients had poor testicular histology, and 40.7% had Ad spermatogonia. In Liestal, 61.8% of patients had no, or some, spermatogonia, but no Ad spermatogonia, and 38.2% had Ad spermatogonia. There was a difference (p = 0.000025) between the patients with normal testicular histology from Philadelphia and those from Vojvodina, as well as between the patients from Vojvodina and Liestal (p = 0.0027).


CONCLUSIONS
The reduction in the number of germ cells in patients with cryptorchidism from Vojvodina is more pronounced than patients from either Switzerland or USA. This is a unique observation, since such a study has not been published yet.
Zivkovic
Dragana
D
Institute for Child and Youth Health Care of Vojvodina, Pediatric Surgery Clinic, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia. zdragana@eunet.yu
Varga
Jan
J
Konstantinidis
Georgios
G
Vlaski
Jovan
J
Snyder
Howard M
HM
Hadziselimovic
Faruk
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003456:Cryptorchidism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015143:Philadelphia; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012708:Sertoli Cells; D013093:Spermatogonia / Q000166:cytology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013557:Switzerland; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology*; D015022:Yugoslavia