title: Sperm chromatin heterogeneity as an infertility factor.
abstract: Semen samples from husbands with a history of unexplained infertility (n = 33), of women with habitual abortion (n = 36), or normal fertile donors (n = 20) were subjected to conventional semen analysis (SA), Acridine orange test (AOT), and zona-free hamster egg penetration test (HEPT). The three tests operate independently. The most discriminatory test was AOT (p = 0.0001) followed by HEPT (p = 0.019). The frequency of sperm chromatin heterogeneity as detected by AOT red fluorescence was highest in habitual abortion (39.4%), followed by unexplained infertility (16.4%), and, last, donors (9.4%). However the percentage of penetration was highest in habitual abortion (50.7%), followed by donors (43.1%), and least in unexplained infertility (33.9%). Conventional semen parameters (sperm density, motility, abnormality, and vitality) were the least to discriminate between the three groups. The presence of abnormal sperm chromatin may lead to infertility as a result of early pregnancy loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Safat.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Moussa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pedersen
mesh_terms: D000165:Acridine Orange; D002843:Chromatin / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012661:Semen / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D000165:Acridine Orange