Abstract
Objective: To determine the number of DAZ gene clusters in the Y-bearing spermatozoa of patients who underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and to compare the outcome with the number of clusters found in the spermatozoa of normospermic men. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Academic hospital. Patient(s): Forty-seven patients with impaired spermatogenesis who were attending our clinic for ICSI and 56 semen donors. Intervention(s): Peripheral blood was drawn to obtain somatic DNA for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and leukocytes for karyotyping and FISH analysis. Three-color FISH was performed on the spermatozoa remaining after ICSI and on the spermatozoa of semen donors to determine the presence of the X and Y chromosome as well as the number of DAZ gene clusters. Main Outcome Measure(s): Number of DAZ gene clusters in Y-bearing spermatozoa. Result(s): Five patients had only one DAZ gene cluster, one patient had a complete AZFc deletion, and one patient had three clusters on average. One of the semen donors also showed three DAZ gene clusters in his Y-bearing spermatozoa. None of the semen donors had only one DAZ gene cluster. Conclusion(s): Besides complete AZFc deletions, partial deletions are also associated with impaired spermatogenesis. As a result, these partial deletions that are not recognized by routine PCR are reintroduced into the population by the ICSI technique
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1209-1214 |
Journal | Fertility and Sterility |
Volume | 78 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2002 |