Study of Testicular Structure in Fetuses with Prune Belly Syndrome

PURPOSE To compare the structure of the testis in fetuses with prune belly syndrome (PBS) to normal controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS We studied 6 testes obtained from 3 fetuses with PBS and 14 testes from 7 male fetuses. The testicular specimens were cut into 5-μm thick sections and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE), to observe the seminiferous tubules; Weigert's solution to observe elastic fibers; and picrosirius red to observe collagen. The images were captured with an Olympus BX51 microscope and Olympus DP70 camera. The stereological analysis was done with the Image Pro and Image J programs. Means were statistically compared using the Mann-Whitney U test (p < 0.005). RESULTS Quantitative analysis documented no differences (p = 0.4) in number of seminiferous tubules (ST) in PBS testes (mean = 8.87%, SD = 1.59), when compared to the control (mean = 11.4%, SD = 2.99) and no differences (p = 0.8) in diameter of ST in PBS testes (mean = 52.85 μm, SD = 1.58) when compared to the control group (mean = 53.17 μm, SD = 1.55), but we did observe a lower number (p = 0.0002) of Leydig cells in the PBS testes (mean = 67.03% and SD = 3.697) when compared to the control group (mean = 90.1% and SD = 2.986). CONCLUSIONS Our study showed a lower concentration of Leydig cells in the triad syndrome fetuses.