Meiotic anomalies in infertile men with severe spermatogenic defects.
BACKGROUND
This study was aimed at evaluating the rate of pairing failure in pachytene spermatocytes of patients presenting either an obstructive (O) or a non-obstructive (NO) infertility.


METHODS
Forty-one patients and 13 controls underwent testicular biopsy. Among the patients, 19 had an O infertility and 22 a NO infertility. Preparations of all patients and controls were Giemsa-stained, and synaptonemal complexes from nine of these patients and one control were immunostained.


RESULTS
In all, 2931 pachytene nuclei were analysed. The mean rate of asynapsed nuclei from the NO group (25.4%) was significantly higher than that of the O group (9.8%). There was no significant difference between the O group and the controls (10.6%). Immunocytochemistry showed that the number of pachytene nuclei decreased from the early to late pachytene sub-stage in all patients. Two NO patients, one azoospermic and one oligozoospermic, had a high percentage of asynapsed nuclei (86 and 91.8% respectively); one of these patients also presented a precocious localized separation of sister chromatids.


CONCLUSIONS
high levels of extended asynapsis could arise from a primary meiotic defect which may be responsible for 9% of the NO male infertilities at our centre. The prevalence of early pachytene substages suggests that the pachytene checkpoint is localized at the mid-pachytene stage in humans.
Guichaoua
M R
MR
Laboratoire de Biogénotoxicologie et Mutagenèse Environnementale (EA1784), IFR PMSE112, Faculté de Médecine Timone, 27, Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille cedex 05, France. mguichaoua@ap-hm.fr
Perrin
J
J
Metzler-Guillemain
C
C
Saias-Magnan
J
J
Giorgi
R
R
Grillo
J M
JM
D000328:Adult; D001399:Azure Stains; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013090:Spermatocytes / Q000473:pathology; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology
D001399:Azure Stains; D004396:Coloring Agents