How testicular function relates to male infertility

The testes have two main functions, namely the production of spermatozoa by the testicular seminiferous tubules and the secretion of androgen – testosterone – by the testicular interstitial cells. Dysfunction of the seminiferous tubules leads to impaired sperm production or failure to produce sperm, resulting in oligozoospermia, hypospermia, dysmorphic spermatozoa or even azoospermia on semen examination, which can directly affect male fertility. Testicular interstitial cell dysfunction causes testosterone generation or secretion disorder, there will be a series of symptoms and signs of low serum testosterone level, clinically manifested as high gonadotropin level and low testosterone level, accompanied by poor sexual development, small external genitalia, and inconspicuous secondary sexual characteristics, and due to the sexual dysfunction caused by low androgens and spermatogenesis and spermatogenesis dysfunction and spermatogenesis disorders, so that the sperm quality decreases, which in turn is the a direct contributor to infertility. Testicular dysfunction is often accompanied by both hypoandrogenism and spermatogenic dysfunction, but due to the different factors causing testicular dysfunction and the different duration of pathogenic effects, these two clinical manifestations are not exactly the same, and in many cases, only spermatogenic dysfunction is manifested, while the function of secretion of androgens is still normal. From the endocrine point of view, the function of the testes is directly regulated and controlled by the subthalamic-pituitary-gonadal (testicular) axis. If the causative agent acts directly on the testes of this axis and causes testicular dysfunction, it is called primary (or idiopathic) testicular dysfunction, and the hormone measurements show an increase in FSH and/or LH, so it is also called hypogonadotropic hypogonadism; whereas, if the causative agent acts on the hypothalamus or pituitary gland of this axis and makes the pituitary gland lower its secretion of gonadotropins, thus causing testicular dysfunction, it is called secondary testicular dysfunction. Secondary testicular dysfunction is characterized by a decrease in FSH and/or LH, hence the term hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. The majority of testicular dysfunction encountered in the clinic is primary, and these patients often have unknown causative factors and only abnormal sperm quality in semen examination, which can only be attributed to primary testicular dysfunction; secondary testicular dysfunction, although the incidence rate is relatively low, but its pathogenesis is clearer, which is due to the lowering of gonadotropins, and thus the treatment has a targeted approach, and the use of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone is used for the treatment of this condition. Therefore, the treatment is targeted and is often satisfactory with the use of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and menopausal gonadotropin (HMG).