THE RELATION BETWEEN HUMAN Y CHROMOSOME MICRODELETIONS AND SPERM MORPHOLOGY

Abstract

O b je c tiv e : Recent investigations havesupported the importance of Y chromosomemicrodeletions in male infertility. Besidesdifferent factors, sperm morphology is also a veryimportant component of the clinical evaluation ofmale fertility potential. The aim of our study wasto understand the relation between Ychromosome microdeletions and spermmorphology in different risk groups.Material and Methods: In this study, 34 infertilemen were selected and examined in terms ofsperm morphology and Y chromosomemicrodeletions. Semen analyses of the patientswere performed by using Strict criteria and thesamples were grouped according to the spermabnormalities. Peripheral blood samples wereexamined for Y chromosome microdeletions by amultiplex polymerase chain reaction amplificationof sequence-tagged sites (STS) of the Ychromosome.R e su lts : The incidence of deletions in the groupwas 14.7 % (5/34). The rates of Y chromosomemicrodeletion were 33.3% for megalohead,33.3% for elongehead, 0% for roundhead, 100%for pinhead, 14.3% for severe teratozoospermia,33.3% for severe neck abnormalities and 0% fortail-stump Pregnancy could not be obtained fromY chromosome deleted cases.Co nclus io n: It seems that especially patientswith sperm head and neck abnormality haveincreased microdeletion risk. It is suggested thata detailed sperm morphology examination andclassification is needed to clarify the Ychromosome deletion-sperm morphology relation.Key Words: Y chromosome microdeletions,Sperm morphology, Male infertility