Correlations between the Quantitative Morphology of the Human Testis and Sperm Production The Testis of Healthy Men with Normal Sperm Counts

Stereology was used as a morphometric method to study the testicular biopsies of 8 healthy volunteers with a proven fertility and normal sperm counts.
The geometrical mean of the sperm density and total sperm count of 2 semen samples were correlated with the measured and calculated stereological parameters. The volume density of the germinal cell nuclei ( r = 0.72) and the intra-tubular tissue volume density ( r = 0.81) were significantly correlated with the sperm density. A significant correlation was demonstrated between the total sperm count and the volume density of the germinal cell nuclei ( r = 0.71) and the volume density of the Leydig cells ( r =–0.70).
Using stepwise multiple regression analysis the prediction of the observed variance of the log sperm density was feasible ( r = 0.996; P = 0.0007) with 4 stereological parameters: the volume density of the germinal cell nuclei (positive correlation), the volume density of the tubular wall (negative correlation), the volume density of the Leydig cells (negative correlation) and the tubular surface density (positive correlation).
The observed variance of the log total sperm count was predicted ( r = 0.96; P = 0.003) with 3 stereological parameters: the volume density of the germinal cell nuclei (positive correlation), the volume density of the Leydig cells (negative correlation) and the volume density of the blood vessels (negative correlation).