title: Relationship between absence of annulus and asthenozoospermia in Iranian men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find a relationship between absence of annulus and asthenozoospermia in Iranian men.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study, semen samples from 100 asthenozoospermic and 20 normozospermic patients were analyzed for sperm concentration and motility. Spermatozoa were immunostained for the two septin subunits Sept4 and Sept7. The absence of the annulus structure was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and western blot analysis for septin 4. DNA sequencing for all coding exons of SEPT12 was performed for a patient using peripheral blood sample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Specific antibodies for SEPT4 and SEPT7 consistently labeled the annuli in spermatozoa from all of the 20 normozospermic men, while in one of 100 patients with asthenozoospermia, 75% of sperms lacking septin 4 or septin 7 proteins at the annulus. It was shown that the structural defect in annulus formation is not caused by point mutation of SEPT12 gene.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrated that the frequency of the absence of annulus in asthenozoospermic sample of Iranian population has a low frequency and could not be assume as a diagnostic marker for classifying asthenozoospermic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Andrology at Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hani
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hosseinifar
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shafipour
authors.forename: Tahereh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Modarresi
authors.forename: Mahnaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azad
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sadighi Gilani
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shahhosseini
authors.forename: Marjan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabbaghian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053627:Asthenozoospermia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D017354:Point Mutation; D058112:Septins / Q000235:genetics; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000235:genetics*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C502729:SEPTIN12 protein, human; C492027:SEPTIN4 protein, human; C113158:SEPTIN7 protein, human; D058112:Septins