Sperm ultrastructure and meiotic segregation in a group of patients with chronic hepatitis B and C

Abstract

Little is known about the effect of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C on sperm quality. In this study we analysed sperm quality from selected patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Semen samples were examined by light and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM data were elaborated with a mathematical formula able to indicate a fertility index and the presence of the three main sperm pathologies: apoptosis, immaturity and necrosis. Meiotic chromosome segregation was investigated by fluorescence in situ hybridisation carried out on sperm nuclei, using probes for chromosomes 18, X and Y. Despite normal sperm concentration, we observed reduced motility. TEM analysis highlighted that 35.7% of patients showed generally good semen quality. However, significantly higher values of apoptosis and necrosis, compared with controls, were observed, demonstrating spermatogenetic alterations. Regarding meiotic segregation, we found an incidence of disomies similar to that observed in control samples, whereas diploidy resulted higher in HCV patients, without reaching statistical significance. In conclusion, sperm quality in the studied group was not impaired, however, apoptosis and necrosis resulted out of normal range and the fertility index was significantly lower in HCV and HBV infected patients versus controls.

Comparison of semen quality and outcome of assisted reproductive techniques in Chinese men with and without hepatitis B

“…6 Thus, HBV infection can induce chromosome aberrations, leading to hereditary defects in male germinal cells and problems in spermatogenesis. Consistent with this idea, Moretti et al 9 had observed that HBV infection increased the percentage of phenotypic sperm pathologies, such as necrosis, apoptosis and immaturity. In addition, a recent in vitro study on HBV S protein and sperm function demonstrated that sperm treated with S protein exhibited lower fertilisation rate and index due to reduced sperm motility from mitochondrial injury.…”

“…One possible explanation for this difference is that sperm infected with HBV could have also been injected into the oocyte during ICSI. This is unlikely though because HBV-infected sperm generally have a lower probability of successful fertilisation by either IVF or natural conception, 9 as sperm infected with HBV S protein was shown to have decreased fertilising ability. 17 Moreover, HBV DNA could be detected in the semen of HBV-infected patients, 5 and even after thoroughly washing sperm to reduce the risk of viral transmission, about 10% remained HBVpositive.…”

“…Vicari et al 7 had compared 23 HBV-infected men with 19 HCV-infected men and observed overall worse sperm parameters in the HBV-infected group. Similarly, Lorusso et al 8 had reported decreased sperm motility and viability but normal morphology in HBV-seropositive men (n530) when compared to a negative control group (n5130), and Moretti et al 9 observed a lower fertility index (expressed as the number of 'healthy' spermatozoa) among HBV-infected men when compared to healthy men. All three reports demonstrated a negative correlation between HBV infection and semen quality based on a limited sample number.…”

“…5 The relationship between HBV infection and male reproductive performance has been of considerable interest, as HBV infection was reported to increase chromosomal instability in sperm 6 and impair sperm quality in HBVinfected males. [7][8][9] Nowadays, an increasing number of infertile HBV-infected individuals have turned to assisted reproductive technology (ART), including in vitro fertilisation (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and embryo transfer (ET) treatments. However, little is currently known about the impact of HBV infection on ICSI outcome.…”

Can hepatitis B virus DNA in semen be predicted by serum levels of hepatitis B virus DNA, HBeAg, and HBsAg in chronically infected men from infertile couples?

“…Poor semen parameters had been found in HBV-infected men (Vicari et al, 2006;Lee et al, 2010;Lorusso et al, 2010;Zhou et al, 2011). Also, HBV infection is associated with sperm apoptosis and necrosis resulted out of normal range (Moretti et al, 2008). Furthermore, HBV infection could induce sperm chromosome aberrations and cause serious damage on sperm genetic material (DNA) and mitochondrial membrane potential (Huang et al, 2003;Zhou et al, 2009;Chen et al, 2011).…”