Male infertility in China: laboratory finding for AZF microdeletions and chromosomal abnormalities in infertile men from Northeastern China.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the frequencies of AZF microdeletions and chromosomal abnormalities in infertile men from Northeastern China. Moreover, to compare the prevalence of these abnormalities with other countries and regions in the world.


METHODS
305 infertile men were enrolled. A complete semen analysis and reproductive hormones were measured according to standard methods. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using nine specific sequence-tagged sites (STS) were used to detect AZF microdeletions. Karyotype analyses were performed on peripheral blood lymphocytes with standard G-banding.


RESULTS
Of the 305 infertile men, 28 (9.2%) had AZF microdeletions and 26 (8.5%) had chromosomal abnormalities. The most frequent microdeletions were in the AZFc+d, followed by AZFc, AZFb+c+d and AZFa. A total of 19 patients (82.6%) had Klinefelter's syndrome (47, XXY) in the azoospermic group.


CONCLUSIONS
The freqencies of AZF microdeletions and chromosomal abnormalities in infertile men from Northeastern China were comparable with infertile men from other countries and regions. However, there was a slightly higher prevalence rate of AZF microdeletions in oligozoospermic patients than reported in previous studies.
Wang
Rui-Xue
RX
Center for Reproductive Medicine, First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Fu
Chao
C
Yang
Ya-Ping
YP
Han
Rong-Rong
RR
Dong
Yuan
Y
Dai
Ru-Lin
RL
Liu
Rui-Zhi
RZ
D053713:Azoospermia / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics*; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016324:Sequence Tagged Sites