Leydig cell hyperplasia in cryptorchid patients: quantitative evaluation of Leydig cells in undescended and contralateral scrotal testes

Abstract

Leydig cell number was evaluated quantitatively in testicular biopsies from post-pubertal cryptorchid patients and normal controls. For this quantitative evaluation we used the following method. This is based on the determination of the total number of Leydig cells, Leydig cell clusters and seminiferous tubules in the entire histologic sections of each biopsy and the determination of the following indices; mean Leydig cells per tubule, mean Leydig cell clusters per tubule and mean Leydig cells per cluster. In addition, the numbers of Sertoli cells were counted, and Leydig-Sertoli cell ratio was also determined. These indices were correlated with each other. All indices were significantly elevated not only in undescended but in contralateral scrotal testes of the cryptorchid patients in comparison to those in normal controls. Between undescended and descended scrotal testes of the same individual patients, those indices were significantly higher in the descended scrotal testes than in the undescended ones. Thus, Leydig cell hyperplasia was noted in the testes of post-pubertal cryptorchid patients, and was more prominent in the contralateral scrotal testes than in the undescended ones.