Pre-Testicular, Testicular, and Post-Testicular Causes of Male Infertility

Dimitriadis, Fotios; Adonakis, George; Kaponis, Apostolos; Mamoulakis, Charalampos; Takenaka, Atsushi; Sofikitis, Nikolaos

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-29456-8_33-1

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 301 publications

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“…[1][2][3] Its etiology can be related to congenital or acquired conditions acting at a pre-testicular, testicular, or post-testicular level. 1,3,4 Depending on the etiology, infertile men may present different seminal and hormonal characteristics. Subjects with pre-testicular and testicular causes of infertility often show oligo-or azoospermia, 2,5 various degrees of other seminal abnormalities, 4 low testis volume (TV) and testosterone (T) levels and low (pre-testicular etiology) or high (testicular etiology) gonadotropin levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1,3,4 Depending on the etiology, infertile men may present different seminal and hormonal characteristics. Subjects with pre-testicular and testicular causes of infertility often show oligo-or azoospermia, 2,5 various degrees of other seminal abnormalities, 4 low testis volume (TV) and testosterone (T) levels and low (pre-testicular etiology) or high (testicular etiology) gonadotropin levels. 5 Subjects with post-testicular causes of infertility often show oligo-or azoospermia when a partial or a complete obstruction is present, respectively, 5,6 low semen volume and pH when ejaculatory duct obstruction or seminal vesicle/s agenesis/abnormalities occur, 5 and TV, gonadotropin and T levels in the normal range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The European Academy of Andrology (EAA) ultrasound study on healthy, fertile men: clinical, seminal and biochemical characteristics

et al. 2020

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Background Infertility affects 7%‐12% of men, and its etiology is unknown in half of cases. To fill this gap, use of the male genital tract color‐Doppler ultrasound (MGT‐CDUS) has progressively expanded. However, MGT‐CDUS still suffers from lack of standardization. Hence, the European Academy of Andrology (EAA) has promoted a multicenter study (“EAA ultrasound study”) to assess MGT‐CDUS characteristics of healthy, fertile men to obtain normative parameters. Objectives To report (a) the development and methodology of the “EAA ultrasound study,” (b) the clinical characteristics of the cohort of healthy, fertile men, and (c) the correlations of both fertility history and seminal features with clinical parameters. Methods A cohort of 248 healthy, fertile men (35.3 ± 5.9 years) was studied. All subjects were asked to undergo, within the same day, clinical, biochemical, and seminal evaluation and MGT‐CDUS before and after ejaculation. Results The clinical, seminal, and biochemical characteristics of the cohort have been reported here. The seminal characteristics were consistent with those reported by the WHO (2010) for the 50th and 5th centiles for fertile men. Normozoospermia was observed in 79.6% of men, while normal sperm vitality was present in almost the entire sample. Time to pregnancy (TTP) was 3.0[1.0‐6.0] months. TTP was negatively correlated with sperm vitality (Adj.r =−.310, P = .011), but not with other seminal, clinical, or biochemical parameters. Sperm vitality and normal morphology were positively associated with fT3 and fT4 levels, respectively (Adj.r = .244, P < .05 and Adj.r = .232, P = .002). Sperm concentration and total count were negatively associated with FSH levels and positively, along with progressive motility, with mean testis volume (TV). Mean TV was 20.4 ± 4.0 mL, and the lower reference values for right and left testes were 15.0 and 14.0 mL. Mean TV was negatively associated with gonadotropin levels and pulse pressure. Varicocoele was found in 33% of men. Conclusions The cohort studied confirms the WHO data for all semen parameters and represents a reference with which to assess MGT‐CDUS normative parameters.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The European Academy of Andrology (EAA) ultrasound study on healthy, fertile men: clinical, seminal and biochemical characteristics

et al. 2020

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“…Worldwide, approximately 10-15% of couples are considered infertile. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), male factors are diagnosed in almost 50% of infertility cases, either solely (20%) or in combination with female factor (30-40%) (9)(10)(11)(12).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alu-repeat polymorphism in the tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) gene, seminal t-PA concentration, and male fertility impairment: A case-control study

Tahtamouni

Hamdan

Al-Mazaydeh

et al. 2020

IJRM

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Background: Tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) is a protein involved in the fibrinolytic system that catalyzes the conversion of plasminogen into the active plasmin. The activity of t-PA is controlled by plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. t-PA has crucial functions during spermatogenesis. One polymorphism was reported for t-PA gene, either the presence of a 300-bp Alu-repeat (Alu+) or its absence (Alu−). Objective: The current work aimed at studying the association between Alu polymorphism in the t-PA gene and male infertility. Materials and Methods: Using polymerase chain reaction on genomic DNA isolated from the blood of 79 participants, a region polymorphic for Alu element insertion in t-PA gene was amplified. In addition, total t-PA concentration, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1/t-PA complex concentration, and t-PA activity in seminal plasma were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The results indicate that the percentage of infertile participants (n = 50) who were homozygous for t-PA Alu insertion (Alu+/+), heterozygous Alu+/− or homozygous for t-PA Alu deletion (Alu−/−) did not change significantly (p = 0.43, 0.81, and 0.85, respectively) when compared with the control participants (n = 29). On the other hand, a significant decrease (p = 0.0001) of t-PA total concentration in seminal plasma was observed in the infertile group in comparison with the control group. However, the results indicate that there is no association between the t-PA Alu different genotypes and the total t-PA seminal concentration in the infertile group when compared to the control group (p = 0.63). Conclusion: Data obtained from the current study does not support an association between t-PA Alu polymorphism and t-PA seminal concentration or male infertility. Key words: Alu element, Male infertility, Semen, Spermatogenesis, t-PA.

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“…Many studies focused on the possible causes of infertility, and it has been proven that, globally, both sexes are equally involved [2]. Traditionally, male infertility has been divided into three major etiological categories: Pretesticular, testicular, and post-testicular [3]; however, another new clinically based classification has been recently proposed, considering: (a) The hypothalamic-pituitary axis function, (b) quantitative spermatogenesis, (c) qualitative spermatogenesis, and (d) ductal obstruction or dysfunction [4], all of these including both genetic and non-genetic causes. Focusing also on the clinical characteristics of the patient and not only on the anatomical/temporal characteristics of infertility might be a better approach in the diagnosis and treatment of this condition, since male infertility can be caused by several, different factors that may affect semen quality in very different ways, so that this quality can be seen as the final output of different pathophysiological mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Number of Copies, Structure, Behavior and Copy Number Variations (CNV) of the Y Chromosome in Male Infertility

Signore

Gulìa

Votino

et al. 2019

Genes

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The World Health Organization (WHO) defines infertility as the inability of a sexually active, non-contracepting couple to achieve spontaneous pregnancy within one year. Statistics show that the two sexes are equally at risk. Several causes may be responsible for male infertility; however, in 30-40% of cases a diagnosis of idiopathic male infertility is made in men with normal urogenital anatomy, no history of familial fertility-related diseases and a normal panel of values as for endocrine, genetic and biochemical markers. Idiopathic male infertility may be the result of gene/environment interactions, genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. Numerical and structural anomalies of the Y chromosome represent a minor yet significant proportion and are the topic discussed in this review. We searched the PubMed database and major search engines for reports about Y-linked male infertility. We present cases of Y-linked male infertility in terms of (i) anomalies of the Y chromosome structure/number; (ii) Y chromosome misbehavior in a normal genetic background; (iii) Y chromosome copy number variations (CNVs). We discuss possible explanations of male infertility caused by mutations, lower or higher number of copies of otherwise wild type, Y-linked sequences. Despite Y chromosome structural anomalies are not a major cause of male infertility, in case of negative results and of normal DNA sequencing of the ascertained genes causing infertility and mapping on this chromosome, we recommend an analysis of the karyotype integrity in all cases of idiopathic fertility impairment, with an emphasis on the structure and number of this chromosome.

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Pre-Testicular, Testicular, and Post-Testicular Causes of Male Infertility

Cited by 11 publications

References 301 publications

The European Academy of Andrology (EAA) ultrasound study on healthy, fertile men: clinical, seminal and biochemical characteristics

The European Academy of Andrology (EAA) ultrasound study on healthy, fertile men: clinical, seminal and biochemical characteristics

Alu-repeat polymorphism in the tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) gene, seminal t-PA concentration, and male fertility impairment: A case-control study

The Role of Number of Copies, Structure, Behavior and Copy Number Variations (CNV) of the Y Chromosome in Male Infertility

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