Meiotic abnormalities and spermatogenic parameters in severe oligoasthenozoospermia

Abstract

The incidence of meiotic abnormalities and their relationship with different spermatogenic parameters was assessed in 103 male patients with presumably idiopathic severe oligoasthenozoospermia (motile sperm concentration < or = 1.5 x 10(6)/ml). Meiosis on testicular biopsies was independently evaluated by two observers. Meiotic patterns included normal meiosis and two meiotic abnormalities, i.e. severe arrest and synaptic anomalies. A normal pattern was found in 64 (62.1%), severe arrest in 21 (20.4%) and synaptic anomalies in 18 (17.5%). The overall rate of meiotic abnormalities was 37.9%. Most (66.7%) meiotic abnormalities occurred in patients with a sperm concentration < or = 1 x 10(6)/ml. In this group, total meiotic abnormalities were found in 57.8% of the patients; of these, 26.7% had synaptic anomalies. When the sperm concentration was < or = 0.5 x 10(6)/ml, synaptic anomalies were detected in 40% of the patients. In patients with increased follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) concentrations, total meiotic abnormalities occurred in 54.8% (synaptic anomalies in 22.6%). There were statistically significant differences among the three meiotic patterns in relation to sperm concentration (P < 0.001) and serum FSH concentration (P < 0.05). In the multivariate analysis, sperm concentration < or = 1 x 10(6)/ml and/or FSH concentration > 10 IU/l were the only predictors of meiotic abnormalities.

Detection of aneuploidy rate for chromosomes X, Y and 8 by fluorescence in-situ hybridization in spermatozoa from patients with severe non-obstructive oligozoospermia

“…Our study shows that an FSH concentration higher than 10 UI/ml was a predictive factor of meiotic abnormalities. Our data are in accordance with the data of Vendrell et al [27] and Faure et al [16] who showed that an elevated FSH level is significantly correlated with higher risk of high sperm disomy rates. In addition the total rate of sex chromosomes aneuploidy was found to be significantly increased in patients exposed to an elevated temperature.…”

Chromosomal segregation in spermatozoa of five Robertsonian translocation carriers t(13;14)

“…They observed high sex chromosome aneuploidy rates (0.68%) in the sperm of Robertsonian translocation carriers compared to controls (0.37%) and insignificant rates for other chromosomes. Some investigations have shown an ICE [22,23], but 4 was not possible because of the extremely low sperm concentration (0.14 × 10 6 /μl) that could be related to aneuploidy and diploidy. Most carriers of Robertsonian translocations have oligozoospermia.…”

Chromosome analysis of epididymal and testicular spermatozoa in patients with azoospermia

“…15,16 Even among infertile men with a normal blood karyotype, the frequency of chromosomal abnormalities restricted to the germ line is considerable. 17,18 Furthermore, infertile men with impaired spermatogenesis may have an increased risk of producing aneuploid germ cells as a consequence of chromosomal pairing and/or disjunction errors during mitosis and/or meiosis 15,19 which may constitute the underlying pathogenetic cause of the increased sperm aneuploidy rate found in patients with abnormal semen parameters. So it seems likely that patients with a more severe spermatogenetic impairment, such as those with NOA, are more prone to mitotic and/or meiotic errors during cell division and proliferation.…”