Cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in Leydig cells from the testes of postpubertal cryptorchid patients.

During the course of electron microscopic studies on testes from cryptorchid patients, we have observed an inclusion body in the cytoplasm of Leydig cells. Such inclusion bodies were detected in Leydig cells of post-pubertal patients (16 to 30 years), but were not evident in the cells of pubertal and pre-pubertal patients (3 to 12 years), or in cells from the contralateral descended scrotal testes of cryptorchid patients or in cells from normal controls. These inclusion bodies are therefore believed to result from specific cytological changes which occur in cryptorchid testes during puberty.