Do prune-belly syndrome and neural tube defects change testicular growth? A study on human fetuses

There are no reports comparing testicular volume between normal fetuses, fetuses with prune-belly syndrome (PBS), and fetuses with anencephaly. The study hypothesis was that PBS and especially anencephaly alter the testicular volume during the human fetal period. The objective of the study was to compare the testicular growth in fetuses with anencephaly, with PBS, and without anomalies. This is a morphometric study of human fetuses. Seventy testes from fetuses without anomalies aged 11–22 weeks post-conception (WPC), 30 testes from fetuses with anencephaly aged 13–19 WPC, and eight testes from fetuses with PBS aged 13–16 WPC were studied. Testicular length, width, and thickness were evaluated with the aid of computer programs (Image Pro and ImageJ) (Figure). The fetal testicular volume was calculated using the ellipsoid formula: Testicular volume (TV) = [length × thickness × width] × 0.523. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to ascertain the normality of the data and to compare quantitative data between normal fetuses vs. fetuses with anencephaly, while the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess gender and laterality differences. Simple linear correlations (LCs) were calculated for testicular volume according to fetal age, weight, and crown-rump length. All 108 testes studied were abdominal. The right (p = 0.0310) and left (0.0470) testicular volumes were significantly smaller in fetuses with anencephaly than those in the control group. The linear regression analysis indicated that the right and the left testis volume in the control group (right: r2 = 0.6665; left: r2 = 0.6707) and PBS group (right: r2 = 0.9937; left: r2 = 0.9757) increased with fetal age (p