Immunologic studies of male infertility.

The immunological basis of male sterility, as previously described, is related to alterations of spermatogenesis or impairment of seminal plasma formation. Both may be developed independently or may be related. Acute or subacute lesions of the genital tract or gonads may be more closely related to the presence of autosensitization than are chronic inflammatory processes or endocrine diseases of the testis. Oligo- or azoospermia may reflect the destruction of cells or halting of spermatogenesis. Immobilization and agglutination of sperm cells would depend predominantly on an allergic reaction that originates in the adnexal glands. Antibodies against testis do not affect adnexal glands but may immobilize epididymal spermatozoa, whereas antiseminal plasma antibodies react only with adnexal glands and seminal spermatozoa, but not with testicular cells. The pathogenic role of detectable antispermatic antibodies in sterile male or female patients are not sufficiently clarified. Their presence apparently correlate with unexplained cases of infertility, but this does not necessarily mean that they are specifically responsible for this abnormality; furthermore, they might be only an epiphenomenon of the immunological process involved.

Immunological studies in patients with mumps orchitis.

Seventy patients with mumps orchitis were investigated. Serological tests for antitesticular antibodies, using four different techniques showed positive results in 25 patients. Antivirus antibodies were detected and they reached higher values during the remission period of acute cases. Delayed hypersensitivity was studied by means of skin tests using homologous antigenic material. Several patients gave definite positive reactions. Testicular biopsies performed in some patients showed a histological picture similar to that obtained in experimental human or animal auto- or iso-sensitization. All patients in whom testicular damage was present also showed positive skin tests, ascertained by histology of the site of reaction, but none of them exhibited circulating antibodies in meaningful titers. The skin hypersensitivity suggest some correlation between this type of reaction and the development of the testicular lesions as shown in several other diseases in which an immune mechanism could be involved.