Reinke's crystals in perivascular and peritubular Leydig cells of men with non-obstructive and obstructive azoospermia: a retrospective case-control study

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.