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This study indicates that the paternal origin of the 45,X abortus was likely the result of a high level of nullisomy in the sperm and provides evidence for the transmission of chromosomal abnormality from sperm to the conceptus through ICSI.

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Despite their similar semen parameters, infertile men with normal karyotypes displayed more frequent increases in sperm aneuploidy, particularly involving the sex chromosomes, than infertile men who were carriers of chromosomal rearrangements. The difference in the magnitude and type of sperm aneuploidy between the two infertile groups is likely related to the different causes of infertility.

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Published reports show that male carriers of an X-autosome translocation, which is either inherited from their mother or is de novo, are generally sterile, regardless of the position of the breakpoint in the X chromosome. We report a three-generation propagation of such a translocation in a family with a case of male factor infertility. Due to the condition of severe oligozoospermia, the proband and his wife underwent ICSI, which resulted in the birth of a normal healthy female. Cytogenetic (chromosome) analyses and X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) assays were done on the family. The cytogenetic analysis of the proband, a man with severe oligozoospermia, revealed an X-autosomal translocation, 46,Y,t(X;20)(q10;q10), which was inherited from his mother. His brother had the same translocation. Amniocentesis and post-natal umbilical cord analyses revealed that the female infant carried the same translocation as her father. XCI studies showed highly skewed inactivation of the normal X chromosome in the female infant, her paternal grandmother, and her mother who had a normal karyotype. In contrast to the data from the literature, our study suggests that men with a certain type of X-autosomal translocation could conceive children through ICSI in conditions in which a few spermatogonia are able to complete meiosis II. The literature involving X-autosomal translocation in males is also reviewed and the importance of the study of X-chromosomal inactivation in female infants discussed.

Our previous study has shown that superovulatory treatment with pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) in rats caused marked alterations in ovarian and serum steroid responses and coincidental increase in degenerate oocytes (Yun et al., 1987). This study examined the effects of superovulatory treatment (20 IU PMSG) on follicular steroid contents and oocyte maturation. Immature female rats aged 28-30 days were injected with 4 or 20 IU PMSG and sacrificed at 24, 48, 60, and 72 hr. Compared to control regimen, follicular content of progesterone (P) in superovulated rats significantly (P less than .05) increased at 48 hr. Androgen (A) content significantly (P less than .01) decreased below control level at 24 hr but significantly (P less than .05) increased above control level at 48 hr and 60 hr. There was no significant change in 17 beta-estradiol (E) content between the two groups. In control regimen, the ratio of A/E sharply decreased and the ratios of P/E and P/A increased steadily from 24 hr. However, superovulatory regimen showed a consistently steady state in the overall ratios of follicular steroids after 24 hr. Nuclear maturation of the majority of control oocytes recovered from oviducts at 72 hr was synchronized at metaphase II, whereas superovulated oocytes displayed different stages varying from prophase I to metaphase II at 24, 48, and 72 hr. The results provide direct evidence of atypical ovulations in superovulated oocytes with premature or asynchronous nuclear maturation and demonstrate a close relationship between meiotically aberrant oocytes and abnormal follicular steroidogenesis following superovulation with PMSG in rats.

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