Histometry of male gonad in liver cirrhosis.

Left testicles of 125 male patients with cirrhosis and 124 control males were subjected to histometric analysis. The ages of the patients with cirrhosis ranged from 31 to 92 a (mean = 59 a) and in controls, it was from 17 to 87 a (mean = 53 a). In the testicles in cirrhosis, the mean partial value of the V% of the spermatogenic epithelium statistically decreased significantly by a factor of 1.21, that of Leydig cells by 1.32 and interstitial tissue by 1.23, while the mean value of V% of tubular membranes increased by a factor of 1.68 and that of blood vessels by 1.48. The mean partial area of the tubular cross-sections significantly decreased in the cirrhosis group by a factor of 1.3, and by the same factor, the mean number of tubular cross-sections increased per mm2 of the whole testicular sectional plane. The total volume of the tubular system decreased in cirrhosis by a factor of 1.4, and the total weight of Leydig cells by 1.8 in relation to the control group. In complete cirrhosis only, the mean partial area of tubular cross-sections decreased by a factor of 1.15, and the total weight of Leydig cells by 1.42 in relation to incomplete cirrhosis. The type of cirrhosis and the degree of its inflammatory activity were without any significant influence (with the exception of isolated elements) on the differences in the quantitative composition of testicular tissue. However, such effect was exerted by the degree of fatty infiltration of the cirrhotic liver.