Immunological studies of testicular tissue in oligozoospermic and azoospermic patients.

Testicular biopsies from 6 oligozoospermic and 12 azoospermic patients were examined histologically and immunohistologically. Evidence of maturation arrest and of Type II allergic reactions involving tubular basement membranes was found in all oligozoospermic patients. No evidence of an immune reaction was found in 9 azoospermic patients with maturation arrest. Unilateral or bilateral germ cell aplasia with evidence of mixed Type II and III or Type III and IV reactions was present in 2 oligozoospermic and 2 azoospermic patients. The findings have been interpreted to indicate that maturation arrest and germ cell aplasia may occasionally be linked in a chain of immunological events, initiated possibly by damage to tubular basement membranes. No correlation was demonstrable between the histological and immunohistological findings and indirect immunofluorescent tests for sperm antibodies. It is suggested that testicular biopsy is a potentially hazardous procedure in the investigation of infertility, and that prepubertal testicular tissues as well as sperm be used as antigens in the immunological investigation of infertility.