Laminin, type IV collagen, and fibronectin in normal and cryptorchid human testes. An immunohistochemical study

Abstract

An immunohistochemical study of laminin, type IV collagen, and fibronectin was carried out in the testes of normal men and in the cryptorchid and contralateral scrotal testes of cryptorchid men from 2 to 40 years of age. The integrated optical density (IOD) per unit area of the lamina propria was measured in the immunostained sections. Fibronectin was found throughout the thickness of the lamina propria of the seminiferous tubules and in the interstitial connective tissue. No differences between normal and cryptorchid testes were found. Laminin was observed in the innermost part of the lamina propria of the seminiferous tubules and surrounding the endothelium of blood capillaries from infancy. No differences were found between normal and cryptorchid testes in the prepubertal period. In adult cryptorchid testes, laminin formed more numerous and deeper invaginations towards the seminiferous epithelium than in normal adult testes. Type IV collagen appeared throughout the thickness of the lamina propria of normal testes as well as in the wall of interstitial blood vessels. From infancy, the lamina propria of seminiferous tubules, but not blood vessel walls, showed lesser immunostaining for type IV collagen and a lower IOD of this component than did control tests from men of the same age. No differences between unilateral and bilateral cryptorchidism were found. The contralateral scrotal testes of cryptorchid males showed intermediate immunostaining for type IV collagen between that of normal control testes and that of cryptorchid testes. These findings suggest that the lamina propria of seminiferous tubules is lesioned at an early age in both cryptorchid and contralateral scrotal testes of cryptorchid men.

Comparative expression of laminin and smooth muscle actin in the testis and epididymis of poultry and rabbit

“…The testicular vasculature also exhibited intense laminin immunostaining, especially in the muscular layer of the medium sized vessels and in the basal lamina of the endothelium. These findings are consistent with numerous approaches that investigated the localization of laminin in the testis of several mammalian species including mouse (Pelliniemi and Frojdman 2001), rat (Gelly et al 1989;El Ouali et al 1991;Pelliniemi and Frojdman 2001), dog (Benazzi et al 1995) and human (Pollanen et al 1985;Davidoff et al 1990;Santamaria et al 1990;Virtanen et al 1997;Gülkesen et al 2002;Ooba et al 2008). Taken together, the localization of laminin in the testis of mammals and birds might point out to its crucial role in the male reproduction.…”

“…This interest in the seminiferous tubule extracellular matrix components stems partially from observations that overabundance of laminin is associated with an abnormally thickened lamina propria and is possibly related to male infertility (Davidoff et al 1990;Gülkesen et al 2002;Ooba et al 2008). Previously, numerous approaches have studied the localization of laminin in the testis and epididymis of several mammalian species including mouse (Pelliniemi and Frojdman 2001), rat (Gelly et al 1989;El Ouali et al 1991;Koch et al 1999;Pelliniemi and Frojdman 2001), dog (Benazzi et al 1995), human (Pollanen et al 1985;Davidoff et al 1990;Santamaria et al 1990;Virtanen et al 1997;Gülkesen et al 2002;Ooba et al 2008) and bovine (Abd-Elmaksoud 2005; Alkafafy 2005).…”

Effects of Elevated β-Estradiol Levels on the Functional Morphology of the Testis - New Insights

“…In light of the report by Gülkesen et al 43,. who described a decrease in the diameter of the seminiferous tubules of hypospermatogenic men - a finding they noted had also been seen before in previous studies4445, this suggests that a reduced tubule diameter is correlated with impaired spermatogenesis43. This finding is clinically important as it suggests that success rates of sperm retrieval during testicular sperm extraction (TESE) could be increased by selection of testicular tissue revealing the physiological range of diameter.…”

Study of spermatogenesis and thickening of lamina propria in the human seminiferous tubules

“…Several reports showed that there are heterogeneity in the thickness of the lamina propria in the testes with varicocele, cryptorchidism, and Klinefelter's syndrome (11,17,18). We observed a similar heterogeneity in other cases.…”