Serum and Seminal Fluid Immunoglobulins in Relation to Testicular Morphology

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York

The presence of different titers and types of sperm-agglutinating antibodies in serum and seminal fluid as well as the immunoglobulin content of the fluid were evaluated in 93 men with azoospermia or, occasionally, cryptozoospermia to detect whether, at any stage of deranged spermatogenesis observed in a testicular biopsy, a leakage of antibodies or immunoglobulins to the seminal fluid could be demonstrated. Tail-to-tail sperm-agglutinating antibodies were noted in serum from 48% of the men with complete spermatogenesis with only low titers in seminal fluid. No such antibodies were seen in sera from men with different degrees of disturbed spermatogenesis. One man with a Sertoli-cell-only syndrome and one man with a developmental arrest at the spermatid stage had low titers of head-to-head spermagglutinating antibodies in serum, but no such antibodies were seen in the seminal fluid. In none of the men with either normal or deranged spermatogenesis could an increased antibody or Immunoglobulin concentration be demonstrated in the seminal fluid.

     Key words: antibodies, immunoglobulins, serum, semen, sperm agglutination, infertility, azoospermia

Submitted on October 2, 1979
Revised on January 21, 1980
Accepted on January 23, 1980