INCIDENCE OF ANEUPLOID SPERMATOZOA AMONG INFERTILE MEN STUDIED BY MULTICOLOR FLUORESCENCE IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION

We studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization the frequency of aneu ploidy in spermatozoa of 12 infertile men: 8 with normal or nearly nor mal semen analysis values and 4 with oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia. T he control group consisted of 18 normal healthy fertile men, Probes fo r chromosome 1 and 7 were used and 10,000 spermatozoa per individual w ere scored. The hybridization efficiency was good (higher than 98%). I n the group with nearly normal semen analysis values the frequencies o f spermatozoa disomic for chromosome 1 or chromosome 7 were 0.08% and 0.07%, respectively, and not elevated compared to controls (0.10% and 0.06%, respectively). The frequency of diploid spermatozoa was 0.17%, not significantly different from the control group (0.15%) either. In the group of oligo-astheno-teratozoospermic men both the frequencies o f disomic cells for chromosome 1 (0.22%) and for chromosome 7 (0.13%) and of diploid spermatozoa (0.56%) were significantly higher compared to controls, although this was mainly due to one patient with high fre quencies of hyperploid sperm. The results indicate that infertility ma y be a risk factor for chromosomal aneuploidy in spermatozoa. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.