THE NORMAL, CRYPTORCHID AND RETRACTILE PREPUBERAL HUMAN TESTIS - A COMPARATIVE MORPHOMETRIC ULTRASTRUCTURAL-STUDY OF 101 CASES

Fifty-two surgical biopsies from retractile testes of patients in pedi atric age (3-14 years), of which 25 were treated with hormonal therapy (RT) and 27 did not undergo therapy before orchidopexy (RNT), were co mpared with the biopsies of 19 normal (N) and 30 cryptorchid or ectopi c (E) testes. A light and electron microscopic morphologic and morphom etric study was performed. For the quantitative investigation 4 parame ters were selected: a) the mean tubular diameter (on 20 cross-sections ); b) the mean spermatogonial number per tubular section; c) the mean nucleolar area of the Sertoli cells; and d) the mean thickness of the tubular basal lamina. The 101 biopsies were collected for statistical evaluation into four age groups: 3-6 years, 7-10, 11-13 without sperma togenesis and 10-14 with signs of early spermatogenesis. In the RT cat egory the mean tubular diameter and the mean spermatogonial number wer e similar to N in the first two age groups, but were significantly red uced in the RNT categories. The morphometric study of the Sertoli cell nucleolar area confirms the delay of maturation observed in the categ ories of RT, RNT and E. In normal biopsies, the basal lamina shows a p rogressive reduction of the thickness, with the lowest values around p uberty, while constantly higher values were found in the other categor ies, although this increase is not statistically significant.