Abstract
Microscopic and submicroscopic observations were performed in an attempt to know the patho- and morphogenesis of arteriolar hyalinosis of the human testis. Testicles of 238 autopsy cases of acute death in Tokyo Medical Examiner’s Office, 159 autopsied hospital cases and 150 biopsy materials of various morbid origins were examined. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. Hyalinotic lesions of the testicular arterioles appear with the beginning of puberty and reach the maximum at the third decade in severity and frequency. On the other hand, focal scarring process with elastofibrosis concurrs within hyaline deposition and the scarred foci increase in number with aging. 2. Almost all testes of the adults are more or less involved in the vascular hyalinosis. 3. Hyaline impregnation begins in the subendothelial layer, most probably as a result of the enhanced transcellular permeability of the endothelium. i.e. cytopempsis or pinocytosis. 4. Hyaline deposits are mainly composed of granular glycolipoprotein originated from the imported plasmatic fluids and from the secondarily disintegrated basement membrane and elastic lammellae. 5. It may be supposed that through pino- or phagocytosis smooth muscle cells play more or less an active role in removal of hyaline deposition. 6. Pathogenesis of the hyalinosis is far from being understood completely. It may be assumed that hemodynamic alteration in response to functional maturation and activation of the testis is closely connected with the manifestation of the lesions.
