Distribution of heat-shock protein 60 immunoreactivity in testes of infertile men

Abstract.

The immunohistochemical localization of heat-shock protein 60 (hsp60) was investigated in testicular biopsies obtained from 121 adult men with disturbed fertility. In normal unaffected tubules, hsp60 immunoreactivity was localized to spermatogonia, primary spermatocytes and Sertoli cells. In spermatogonia, cytosolic and mitochondrial labelling could be differentiated. In general, the number of stained spermatogonia decreased with the loss of spermatogenic function. A significant (P<0.01) reduction of stained spermatogonia was observed in testes with maturation arrest of spermatogenesis at the level of primary spermatocytes (30.2±21.6%) compared with testes exhibiting normal spermatogenesis. In addition, the decrease in the score correlated significantly with the diminution of cytosolic hsp60 immmunolabelling (coefficient r=0.25, P=0.03). There was a significant difference (P<0.01) in the percentage of cytosolic-stained spermatogonia in testes with a score equal to or greater than 5 (14.7±9.8%) and a score less than 5 (8.9±6.9%). These observations suggest that a low level of hsp60 expression in spermatogonia may lead to a different pattern of protection, which in turn could be involved in low spermatogenic efficiency.