Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 3, 2026
Vessel-Sparing Microsurgical Longitudinal Intussusception Vasoepididymostomy to Treat Epididymal Obstructive Azoospermia
Published on: May 27, 2022
Reinke's crystals in perivascular and peritubular Leydig cells of men with non-obstructive and obstructive
Mario Kordić, Davor Tomić, Dragutin Soldo
1Davor Ježek, Department of Histology and Embryology, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Šalata 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, davor.jezek@mef.hr.
Aim:
To analyze the differences in the population of perivascular and peritubular Leydig cells (LC) and the number of Reinke's crystals (RCs) in the testicles of infertile men with non-obstructive and obstructive azoospermia.
Methods:
This retrospective case-control study was conducted on the testicle tissue of infertile men with obstructive (n=10) and those with non-obstructive azoospermia (n=100). Stereological analysis was performed on 7-μm paraffin sections. Measurements were carried out by using the Weibel multipurpose test system.
Results:
Patients with non-obstructive azoospermia had a higher total/absolute number of LCs in the perivascular space (P=0.034). In these patients, no significant difference was found in the total and absolute number of RCs between the peritubular and perivascular space. Patients with obstructive azoospermia had around three times higher absolute number of RCs in both the peritubular and perivascular spaces (P=0.002; P<0.001) than non-obstructive group.
Conclusion:
Our results suggest that in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia LCs migrated or had different densities in the peritubular and perivascular space compared with patients with obstructive azoospermia. Moreover, the lower number of RCs could imply their utilization by LCs in testosterone production.
