Temperature and Environmental Effects on the Testis

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Views of Testicular Function from Antiquity to the Present

   1. Views of Testicular Function from Antiquity to the Present

      • Adrian W. Zorgniotti

      Pages 1-6

3. Testis Thermoregulation: An Overview

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

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   2. Thermoregulation of the Scrotum and Testis: Studies in Animals and Significance for Man

      • Geoffrey M. H. Waites

      Pages 9-17

   3. Effects of Elevated Temperature on the Epididymis and Testis: Experimental Studies

      • J. Michael Bedford

      Pages 19-32

   4. Effects of Temperature on the Biochemistry of the Testis

      • Anna Steinberger

      Pages 33-47

   5. Epidemiologic Aspects of the Relationship Between Temperature and Male Reproduction

      • Alfred Spira

      Pages 49-56

4. Environmental Factors

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 57-57

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   2. Seasonal Patterns of Births and Conception Throughout the World

      • Stan Becker

      Pages 59-72

   3. Temperature and the Seasonality of Births

      • David A. Lam, Jeffrey A. Miron

      Pages 73-88

   4. Seasonal Variation in Human Semen Quality

      • Richard J. Levine

      Pages 89-96

5. Testis Thermometry

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-97

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   2. Theoretical and Practical Considerations in Scrotal Temperature Measurement

      • Andrew I. Sealfon

      Pages 99-110

   3. Non-Invasive Scrotal Thermometry

      • Adrian W. Zorgniotti

      Pages 111-114

   4. Deep Body Intrascrotal Thermometer: Theory and Methodology

      • Hiroshi Takihara, Masatoshi Yamaguchi, Yoshikazu Baba, Jisaburo Sakatoku

      Pages 115-119

6. Temperature Pathophysiology of the Testis

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121

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   2. A Theoretical Model for Testis Thermoregulation

      • Andrew I. Sealfon, Adrian W. Zorgniotti

      Pages 123-135

   3. The Multi-Level Compartmentation of the Simulation Models of the Counter-Current Heat Exchange (CCHE) Mechanism of the Testis

      • Giuseppe Tritto

      Pages 137-151

   4. The Physiology of Testicular Thermoregulation in the Light of New Anatomical and Pathological Aspects

      • Ahmed Shafik

      Pages 153-172

   5. Effect of Local Heating on Scrotal Temperature

      • R. Hsiung, B. Bothorel, G. Dewasmes, V. Candas, A. Clavert

      Pages 173-177

It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. Machiavelli: The Prince (1513) These are the Proceedings of a Conference on Temperature and Environmental Factors and the Testis which took place at New York University School of Medicine, December 8th and 9th, 1989. There is good reason to believe that this was the first of its kind to address, exclusively, the implications of temperature for this highly thermosensitive organ and its precious genetic cargo. The organizers of the Conference hoped to stimulate interest in this area which, paradoxically, has a considerable literature but which has received scant attention and sometimes outright opposition from clinicians expert in male infertility. There have been studies of the relationship of temperature to reproduction starting in the mid-18th Century with observations of the relationship of water temperature to spawning of fish. There is also a vast literature on the deleterious effects of externally applied heat upon spermatogenesis but little study of the possibility that intrinsic heat may be an important etiologic factor in subfertile semen. Today, fertility research has largely ignored this in favor of research in areas which have not produced successes, in terms of live births, comparable to what can be obtained by varicocelectomy (when appropriate) or scrotal hypothermia: viz. 1. Concentration upon the endocrine aspects of testicular function and its relation to spermatogenesis.

• biochemistry
• fertility
• infertility
• pathophysiology
• physiology
• testis

• New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA

  Adrian W. Zorgniotti

Policies and ethics