Purposes To investigate the frequency and type of both chromosomal abnormalities and Y chromosome microdeletions and analyze their association with defective spermatogenesis in Chinese infertile men. Methods This is a single center study. Karyotyping using G-banding and screening for Y chromosome microdeletion by multiplex polymerase chain reactio(PCR)were performed in 200 controls and 1,333 infertile men, including 945 patients with non-obstructive azoospermia and 388 patients with severe oligozoospermia. Results Out of 1,333 infertile patients, 154(11.55%) presented chromosomal abnormalities. Of these, 139 of 945 (14.71%) were from the azoospermic and 15 of 388 (3.87%) from the severe oligozoospermic patient groups. The incidence of sex chromosomal abnormalities in men with azoospermia was 11.53% compared with 1.03% in men with severe oligozoospermia (P < 0.01). Also 144 of 1,333 (10.80%) patients presented Y chromosome microdeletions. The incidence of azoospermia factor(AZF) microdeletion was 11.75% and 8.51% in patients with azoospermia and severe oligozoospermia respectively. Deletion of AZFc was the most common and deletions in AZFa or AZFab or AZFabc were found in azoospermic men. In addition, 34 patients had chromosomal abnormalities among the 144 patients with Y chromosome microdeletions. No chromosomal abnormality and microdeletion in AZF region were detected in controls. Conclusions There was a high incidence (19.80%) of chromosomal abnormalities and Y chromosomal microdeletions in Chinese infertile males with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia. These findings strongly suggest that genetic screening should be advised to infertile men before starting assisted reproductive treatments.

Aging may be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes in the elderly. Dietary intervention can affect glucose tolerance in adults, which may be due to body composition and islet cell autophagy. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of various dietary interventions on islet cell autophagy. Pancreatic tissue and blood samples were collected from Sprague Dawley rats (14–16 months old, n = 15 for each group) that received a normal diet (ND), a high-fat diet (HFD), or a calorie-restricted diet (CRD). The body weight (BW), visceral fat, serum lipid levels, fasting serum glucose, insulin levels, and β/α cell area were determined in 14-16-(0-w), 16-18-(8-w), and 18-20(16-w)-month-old rats. Pancreatic islet autophagy (LC3B and LAMP2), AP (Acid Phosphatase) and apoptosis (apoptosis index, AI (TUNEL assay) and cleaved caspase-3) were detected using immunohistochemistry, ELISA and western blot. At 16 weeks, the expressions of LC3B, LAMP2 and AP markedly increased in both the HFD (P<0.01) and CRD (P<0.05) groups; however, an increase in the AI (P<0.05), cleaved caspase-3 and Beclin1 expression and a decrease in the expressions of BCL2 and BCLXL (P<0.05) were observed in only the HFD group. FFA, triglyceride levels, HOMA-IR, insulin levels and glucagon levels were significantly increased in the HFD group but decreased in the CRD group at 16 weeks (P<0.05). The degree of islet cell autophagy was potentially regulated by the levels of FFA and islet cell insulin and glucagon, which may have been due to the effects of Beclin1/BCL2.

ABSTRACT. Chromosome abnormalities, Y-chromosome microdeletions, and androgen receptor gene CAG and GGN repeat polymorphisms in infertile Chinese men featuring severe oligospermia and azoospermia were analyzed. Ninety-six fertile men and 189 non-obstructive infertile men, including 125 patients with azoospermia and 64 with severe oligozoospermia, were studied. Seventeen infertile men (9.0%) carried a chromosome abnormality. Twenty (10.6%) carried a Y-chromosome microdeletion. In the remainder of the patients and controls, GGN and CAG repeats were sequenced. Short GGN repeats (n < 23) appeared to be associated with defective spermatogenesis, with the number of GGN repeats strongly correlated with sperm counts. No significant difference in CAG repeats was found between patients and con- trols, nor were CAG repeats correlated with sperm counts. However, for CAG repeats ranging between 24 and 25, there was a >2.5-fold risk (OR = 2.539, 95%CI = 1.206-5.344, P < 0.05) of severe oligospermia and azoospermia. Our results confirmed the significant role of chromosome abnormalities, Y-chromosome microdeletions, and GGN repeats in Chinese male infertility.

MicroRNAs (miRs) have crucial functions in spermatogenesis and implications for male infertility. In the present study, Homo sapiens (hsa)‑miR‑145 was designed and cloned into the eukaryotic expression plasmid pGenesil‑1. The recombinant plasmids were transfected into Hs 1.tes normal testicular cells and NTERA‑2 testicular cancer cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction of hsa‑miR‑145 indicated that pGenesil‑1‑miR‑145 effectively upregulated the expression of hsa‑miR‑145 in vitro. hsa‑miR‑145 overexpression inhibited the mRNA and protein expression of sex-determining region Y Box 9 in Hs 1.tes cells. The proliferation rates of NTERA‑2 cells transfected with pGenesil‑1‑miR‑145 were significantly decreased. High expression levels of miR‑145 promoted cell apoptosis in NTERA‑2 cells. The results revealed that altered hsa‑miR‑145 expression in testicular cells affects the regulation of target genes associated with male infertility.

Abstract. The present study aimed to examine the changes in DNA methylation of gene promoters associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The DNA methylation profile dataset GSE38291 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. A paired t-test was used to analyze differences in the DNA methylation of gene promoters between T2D and normal muscle samples. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis was performed using online tool, The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery. Whole-Genome rVISTA was used to analyze the enriched transcription factor (TF) binding sites upstream of the transcription start site in the differentially methylated genes. A total of 38 genes, including Sirtuin 1, N-acetyltransferase 6, phospholipase A2 group XIIB and nuclear factor of activated T cells calcineurin-dependent 1, were identified to be differentially methylated between these two groups. One GO term, DNA geometric change (GO:0032392), was significantly enriched (P<0.05) by the hyper-methylated genes. In addition, the binding sites of one gene, zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1, and three TFs, methyl CpG binding protein 2, TFEB and TFAP4, were significantly enriched in the hyper-and hypo-methylated genes, respectively. The resulting T2D-associated genes and potential TFs provided a novel insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology of T2D. These genes may become promising target genes for the development of treatments for T2D.