Testosterone and Dihydrotestosterone Concentrations in Spermatic Venous-Blood of Azoospermic Subjects

Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone were measured in spermatic venous blood of 37 azoospermic subjects. On the basis of testicular biopsy and vesiculodeferentography the patients were divided into three groups, i.e. subjects affected by azoospermia of obstructive origin with normal testicular histology, subjects with germinal cell arrest and those with Sertoli cell only syndrome (n = 6, n = 25 and n = 6 respectively).The mean values (± SE) of hormone concentrations in spermatic venous blood in the three groups were respectively 2312 ± 517 nM/l. 2292 ± 320 nM/l and 2006 ± 342 nM/l for testosterone and 28.8 ± 7.7 nM/l, 39.0 ± 5.9 nM/l and 41.9 ± 17.7 nM/l for dihydrotestosterone. The differences were not statistically significant.