INCIDENCE OF AZF (AZOOSPERMIA FACTOR) DELETIONS AND FAMILIAL FORMS OFINFERTILITY AMONG PATIENTS REQUIRING INTRACYTOPLASMIC SPERMATOZOA INJECTION (ICSI)

Purpose: The aim of our study was to determine the incidence of AZF de letions and familial forms of infertility suggesting autosomal mutatio ns among patients requiring intracytoplasmic sperm injection with ejac ulated sperm. Methods: Cases with obstructive pathologies were exclude d; 81 patients were classified according to the numeration of spermato zoa. The distribution was as follows: 10 cases with normal numeration (greater than 20 million/ml) (group 1), 10 cases with between 10 and 2 0 million/ml (group 2), 6 cases with between 5 and 10 million/ml (grou p 3), 15 cases with between 1 and 5 million/ml (group 4), 29 cases wit h less than 1 million/ml (group 5), and 11 azoospermic patients (group 6). The infertility of 11 of the 81 patients might be explained by te sticular ectopy. Results: We found two deletions limited to the AZFc r egion among our 81 infertile patients-one deletion in group 5 and one deletion in group 4 (both groups of oligozoospermic patients)-and no d eletion in the groups with normal or subnormal numerations. We found s ix familial forms of infertility. We did not find any AZF deletion, ne ither in these 6 patients nor in the 11 with testicular ectopy. The id entification of these families of infertile men will allow research of autosomal genes involved in male infertilities. Conclusions: It is im portant to test deletions of the AZFc region for oligozoospermic patie nts, and familial forms of infertility do not seem to concern the same individuals.