Effect of testis nondescent or orchidopexy on antisperm antibodies and testis histology in rats

Objective To examine effects of nondescent of normal testis and of various orchidopexy techniques on antisperm antibody (ASA) production and histologic testicular lesions. Design Experimental cohort study. Setting Laboratories of surgical research and biology of reproduction, academic medical centers. Patient(s) Lewis rats, immature and adult. Intervention(s) Eighteen-day-old rats (6 groups): intra-abdominal stay of testis after closure of inguinal canal, classic dartos pouch orchidopexy, orchidopexy by testis fixation through tunica albuginea, orchidopexy by transparenchymal testicular fixation, sham operation, and bilateral vasectomy. Adult rats (1 group): transparenchymal testicular fixation. Main Outcome Measure(s) The ASA—antiacrosome and antitail—were measured by indirect immunofluorescence in sera collected preoperatively, on 50th and 120th day in immature rats, and 90 days after surgery in adult rats. Testicular histology was also examined at the end of sera collection. Result(s) Neither intra-abdominal testicular localization nor orchidopexies induced significant ASA. Testicular nondescent and fixation (transparenchymal or transtunical) caused hypospermatogenesis; dartos pouch was harmless. Bilateral vasectomy produced significantly increased ASA, but no significant testicular lesions. Contralateral testes were unaffected. Conclusion(s) Intra-abdominal testicular stay and orchidopexy do not elicit autoimmune response to sperm; histologic testicular lesions might not be associated with ASA. In operated cryptorchids, ASA are probably due to other reason than testicular heat or orchidopexy trauma.