ArticleFrontiers in immunology2021
Case Report: Dendritic Cells and Macrophages Capture Sperm in Chronically Inflamed Human Epididymis.
Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Testicular macrophages: core immune regulators and emerging therapeutic targets in spermatogenic dysfunction.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Colony-stimulating factor-1 as a potential therapeutic target in asthenozoospermia.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2025Article
- The RNF8/OPTN/KDM6A axis controls macrophage polarization to maintain testicular microenvironment homeostasis.Cell death discovery · 2025Article
- Human efferent ductules and epididymis display unique cell lineages with motile and primary cilia.Andrology · 2025Article
- Detection of sperm DNA damage in male infertility patients and evaluation of Levocarnitine efficacy using sperm chromatin diffusion (SCD) and AI-DFI methods: a cross-sectional study.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Inflammatory cytokines may mediate the causal relationship between gut microbiota and male infertility: a bidirectional, mediating, multivariate Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Gut microbiota-gonadal axis: the impact of gut microbiota on reproductive functions.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Gut microbiota is involved in male reproductive function: a review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- Exploring the microbiome-gut-testis axis in testicular germ cell tumors.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Review
- Regulatory T cells play a crucial role in maintaining sperm tolerance and male fertility.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Dietary aflatoxin B1 and antimalarial-a lumefantrine/artesunate-therapy perturbs male rat reproductive function via pro-inflammatory and oxidative mechanisms.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Gut microbiota supports male reproductionFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic inflammation of the male genital tract is thought to be a primary etiological factor of male infertility. The abundance and activation of macrophages and dendritic cells in patients with chronic inflammation of genital tract were closely associated with oligozoospermia and asthenospermia. Chronic epididymitis appears to be more important than seminal vesiculitis or prostatitis due to the direct interaction between spermatozoa and epididymal inflammatory cells. In this study, we present a case report of a 41-year-old male with oligoasthenospermia and chronic epididymitis. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunofluorescence analyses showed that antigen presenting cells including macrophages and dendritic cells were found capturing spermatozoa in the lumen of cauda epididymis. To our knowledge, this is the first case report that directly observed dendritic cells capturing spermatozoa in the lumen of an inflamed epididymis. This finding directly explains chronic epididymitis as the possible cause of oligospermia in patients.
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