engleski

Reinke's crystals in testicular biopsies of infertile men

REINKE’ S CRYSTALS IN TESTICULAR BIOPSIES OF INFERTILE MEN Name(s) of author(s) (Presenting author underlined), institution, city, country: Ježek D., Kozina V., *Kubinova L., Drakulić B., Šemanjski K., Banek Lj., Jurić-Lekić G., **Knežević N. University of Zagreb, School of Medicine, Dept. Histology and Embryology ; Dept. of Biomathematics, Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic ; **Clinic for Urology, KBC “ Zagreb” , Zagreb, Croatia ; Abstract: Introduction & aim. Reinke’ s crystals are unique feature of human Leydig cells. They could be occasionally found within the cytoplasm and the nucleus of these cells. The crystals are composed of 10 nm thick filaments that are believed to be of protein structure. Our aim was to determine the number of crystals in control, azoospermic and cryptorchid testes. In addition, we tried to visualize the crystal 3-D structure. Materials and methods. Testicular biopsies were obtained by an “ open biopsy” method. Tissue was fixed in Gendre, dehydrated and embedded in paraffin. Serial sections were stained by H&E and a modified Masson's method. So far, the numerical density of crystals was measured in 10 biopsies from azoospermic patients (without history of cryptorchidism), 10 testicular samples from patients with cryptorchidism and 3 control specimens. For 3-D reconstruction of Reinke's crystal, confocal microscopy and the Ellipse 3D software (ViDiTo, Slovakia) was used. Results & conclusion. Preliminary results indicate an increase in number of crystals in cryptorchid testes and a slight decrease in azoospermic patients when compared to controls. Preliminary 3-D analysis of the crystal confirmed its biocrystalline nature. Further morphometric investigation of the crystal is in progress.

infertility; Reinke's crystals; human testis

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