title: Testicular Spermatozoa Are of Better Quality Than Epididymal Spermatozoa in Patients With Obstructive Azoospermia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess sperm quality as a function of the sampling site (testis or epididymis) in obstructive azoospermia (OA).
  
  
  METHODS
  DNA fragmentation rates in spermatozoa sampled from the testis and epididymis (from patients with different etiologies of OA) were assessed in a dUTP nick-end labeling assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-one OA patients were included: 5 had congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens, 8 had genital tract infections, and 8 had idiopathic OA. A total of 8506 spermatozoa sampled from the testis, 18,358 sampled from the caput epididymis, and 18,881 sampled from the corpus/cauda epididymis were assessed. For each patient, spermatozoa from the testis had a lower overall DNA fragmentation rate (6.71% ± 0.75 in average) than epididymal spermatozoa from the caput (14.86% ± 1.89 in average; P = .0007) or the corpus/cauda (32.61% ± 3.11 in average; P < .0001). The DNA fragmentation rates did not differ significantly as a function of the etiology of OA. In this small series, all deliveries were obtained with sperm samples with a low DNA fragmentation rate and delivery rates tended to be higher when testicular sperm (rather than epididymal sperm) was used (35.7% vs 12.1%, respectively; P = .06).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data argue in favor of using testicular sperm (rather than epididymal sperm) for patients with obstructive azoospermia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Cytogenetics and Gynaecology, Poissy General Hospital, Poissy, France; Department of Reproductive Biology, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France; EA7404-GIG, UFR des Sciences de la Santé Simone Veil, Université Paris-Saclay, Montigny le Bretonneux, France.
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hammoud
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Cytogenetics and Gynaecology, Poissy General Hospital, Poissy, France.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bailly
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Cytogenetics and Gynaecology, Poissy General Hospital, Poissy, France; EA7404-GIG, UFR des Sciences de la Santé Simone Veil, Université Paris-Saclay, Montigny le Bretonneux, France.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bergere
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Cytogenetics and Gynaecology, Poissy General Hospital, Poissy, France.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wainer
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Izard
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Cytogenetics and Gynaecology, Poissy General Hospital, Poissy, France; EA7404-GIG, UFR des Sciences de la Santé Simone Veil, Université Paris-Saclay, Montigny le Bretonneux, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vialard
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Cytogenetics and Gynaecology, Poissy General Hospital, Poissy, France; EA7404-GIG, UFR des Sciences de la Santé Simone Veil, Université Paris-Saclay, Montigny le Bretonneux, France.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Selva
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Biology, Cytogenetics and Gynaecology, Poissy General Hospital, Poissy, France; EA7404-GIG, UFR des Sciences de la Santé Simone Veil, Université Paris-Saclay, Montigny le Bretonneux, France. Electronic address: florenceboitrelle@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boitrelle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053713:Azoospermia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D004822:Epididymis / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D008297:Male; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology*; D013737:Testis / Q000166:cytology*; D014649:Vas Deferens / Q000002:abnormalities