Open AccessFOCAL ATROPHY OF THE SEMINIFEROUS TUBULE IN THE HUMAN TESTIS
Author(s) -
Hatakeyama Shigeru,
Takizawa Touichiro,
Kawahara Yutaka
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
acta patholigica japonica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
ISSN - 0001-6632
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1827.1979.tb00955.x
Subject(s) - atrophy , seminiferous tubule , tubule , pathology , lumen (anatomy) , medicine , ischemia , anatomy , biology , spermatogenesis , sertoli cell , kidney
Three types of focal atrophy of the seminiferous tubule, A, B and A+B type, were recognized in the 250 testes obtained from human subjects who died of acute death. The A‐type consists of complete hyalinized scarring of the tubule and the B‐type of varing degrees of tubular collapse. The A+B type shows combined atrophy of A and B‐type in which B‐type occurs peripherally to A‐type occlusion in sequence and might be induced by local obstruction of luminal flow. Focal tubulitis is uncommon but has been observed in the A+B type atrophy which is characterized by sperm retention and the presence of sperm‐phagocytic macrophages in the lumen. Areas around the rete testis and periseptal zones of the testis are preferential sites for tubular atrophy. B‐type atrophy as an abortive form of A‐type is predominant in the younger groups of the second to third decades, and the incidence of A‐type increases after the fifth decade. It is suggested that A and B‐type are brought about by locally limited ischemia in relation to circulatory disturbance with arteriolar hyalinosis which commonly appears focally in the postpuberal testis.