Contralateral epididymo-orchitis after cryo-injury to the male rabbit gonad.

A focal destruction of testis or epididymis, produced by intensive freezing of the target area, is followed by an inflammatory-degenerative process in the contralateral gonad, in twenty-one out of twenty-three treated adult rabbits. A comparative histological study indicates that the lesion described here may be the result of an autoimmune reaction, resembling other experimental models of allergic orchitis. The histopathological features of this process, and the failure to detect circulating or tissue-fixed antibodies, led to the tentative assumption of a cell-mediated pathogenic mechanism for this lesion. The feasibility of this mechanism is evaluated in conjunction with available data from the literature.