Publication: Impaired spermatogenesis, tubular wall disruption, altered blood-testis barrier composition and intratubular lymphocytes in an infertile Beagle dog – a putative case of autoimmune orchitis
Authors
Matschurat, Carolin ; Rode, Kristina ; Hollenbach, Julia ; Wolf, Karola ; Urhausen, Carola ; Beineke, Andreas ; Günzel Apel, Anne Rose ; Brehm, Ralph
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Publisher
Universidad de Murcia. Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología
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DOI
DOI: 10.14670/HH-18-058
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info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Abstract
Impairment of blood-testis barrier integrity
can be observed during inflammation, infection, trauma
and experimental autoimmune orchitis, which is
inducible in rodents. In the present study, an initially
fertile two-year-old Beagle dog was presented with a
decline in total sperm number resulting in azoospermia
within five months, verified by twice-monthly semen
analyses. The dog was clinically healthy with bilateral
small testes and showed normal thyroid function.
Bacterial cultures of semen were negative and serum
biochemical analyses showed no abnormal findings. To
determine causes of azoospermia, the dog was castrated.
Histological examinations of hematoxylin-eosin stained
testicular sections revealed impaired spermatogenesis,
seminiferous tubules with spermatogenic arrest or
Sertoli-cell-only syndrome as well as focal interstitial
and even intratubular lymphocytic infiltrations. Germ
cell sloughing, apoptosis and giant cells were also
observed in some tubules. Subsequent immunostainings
of smooth-muscle-actin, claudin3, claudin11 and
connexin43 demonstrated, for the first time, a
mechanical and functional disruption of the tubular wall
and alterations of blood-testis barrier proteins in these
tubules. Presence of claudin3 and claudin11 in canine
testis was confirmed using RT-PCR and sequencing and/
or Western-blot analyses. All findings suggested a
possible spontaneous autoimmune orchitis to be the
underlying cause for the observed azoospermia.
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Citation
Histology and Histopathology, Vol.34, nº5, (2019)
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