The Peritubular Tissue in the Normal and Pathological Human Testis. An Ultrastructural Study

Abstract

The peritubular tissue of the human testis has been examined by light and electron microscopy in biopsies from 5 normal men, 10 untreated men with hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism and 52 men with oligospermia or azoospermia. In the normal, the lamina propria of the tubules consisted of two alternating layers of collagen fibres and myoid cells to whose surface a thin layer of basement membrane-like material and microfibrils was closely applied. In hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, the immature seminiferous cords were surrounded by less well defined layers of myoid cells and collagen fibres and the myoid cell surfaces did not exhibit the coating of basement membrane-like material and microfibrils.