Modern andrology: from semen analysis to postgenomic studies of the male gametes

A male factor is implicated in about 50% of couples treated with advanced assisted reproductive techniques (in vitro fertilization [IVF] or intracytoplasmic sperm injection [ICSI]). An important function of spermatozoa is to deliver the paternal genome to the oocyte. However, neither the routine tes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol. 1127; no. 1; pp. 59 - 63
Main Authors Patrizio, Pasquale, Sanguineti, Fabio, Sakkas, Denny
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.04.2008
Subjects
Andrology - methods
Chromatin - pathology
Comet Assay
DNA - analysis
Female
Fertilization in Vitro - methods
Genomics
Humans
In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence
In Situ Nick-End Labeling
Infertility, Male - therapy
Male
Semen - metabolism
Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic - methods
Spermatozoa - pathology
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Summary:A male factor is implicated in about 50% of couples treated with advanced assisted reproductive techniques (in vitro fertilization [IVF] or intracytoplasmic sperm injection [ICSI]). An important function of spermatozoa is to deliver the paternal genome to the oocyte. However, neither the routine testing of male fertility potential, nor its treatment, addresses the specific mechanisms by which spermatozoal factors may impact reproductive outcome. Recently, a number of screening tests for DNA integrity have been proposed to assess sperm chromatin abnormalities. These include nonspecific DNA strand breaks, numerical abnormalities in spermatozoal chromosome content, and alterations in the epigenetic regulation of the paternal genome. This minireview discusses methods to assess the influence of the paternal genome on reproduction beyond that which can be appreciated by simple quantitative and morphologic evaluation of spermatozoa. Finally, new data on how to select the "best fit" sperm for ICSI will be presented.
ISSN:0077-8923
1749-6632
DOI:10.1196/annals.1434.021