Presence of ribonucleic acid in human spermatozoa: Differences in content between normal and abnormal spermatozoa

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine whether there are any differences i n total ribonucleic acid content between normal and abnormal human spermato zoa. STUDY DESIGN: Spermatozoa were obtained from men undergoing routine semen analysi s at a university-based reproductive genetics laboratory. Specimens were cl assified as normal or abnormal according to World Health Organization crite ria. Total ribonucleic acid was removed by acid-phenol extraction, and ribo nucleic acid expression levels were determined by spectrophotometric analys is. RESULTS: Abnormal spermatozoa were found to have significantly more ribonuc leic acid (0.14 +/- 0.02 mg/10(6) spermatozoa) than normal spermatozoa (0.0 5 +/- 0.01 mg/10(6) spermatozoa; P < .001). CONCLUSION: Ribonucleic acid content is significantly altered in abnormal s permatozoa, and this alteration may be the result of some defect in the pos ttranscriptional pathway.