Prospects for clinical transplantation of the testis as an organ and as a tissue

Abstract

In our century the transplantation of testes as replacement therapy and the method of rejuvenation of the organism have elicited great interest. The history of the procedure started with the transplantation of testes from adult men; then came transplantation of fetal testes (with the description of various new surgical methods), followed by experiments in the transplantation of human fetal testicular tissue, including tissue cultures, and treatment with lyophilizates from animal testes. The transplantation of the fetal testis as a tissue and as cell cultures and treatment with testicular tissue extracts may effectively stimulate the regeneration of the testis proper in hypogonadism of various etiology, including incurable hypergonadotropic forms.