The use of ejaculated immotile sperm for in vitro reproduction is debatable due to sperm DNA degradation.

Among ICSI children de novo structural chromosome aberrations of male descent are increased.


Hum Reprod. 2007 Jun 18; [Epub ahead of print]Motile human normozoospermic and oligozoospermic semen samples show a difference in double-strand DNA break incidence.Derijck AA, van der Heijden GW, Ramos L, Giele M, Kremer JA, de Boer P.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND Among ICSI children de novo structural chromosome aberrations of male descent are increased. Misrepair of double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs) is a prerequisite for such aberrations to occur. To date, no absolute assessment of the number of DSBs in human sperm nuclei after gamete fusion has been described. METHODS Using man-mouse heterologous ICSI and gammaH2AX immunofluorescent staining, capable of detecting a single DSB, the number of lesions in ICSI selected sperm from normozoospermic men (n = 2) and oligozoospermic patients (n = 3) was quantified. A comparison with a subfertile male mouse model (n = 5) has been made. In addition, the fate of morphologically normal ejaculated immotile sperm after ICSI was examined. RESULTS A significant increase in the fraction of sperm cells bearing DSBs was found in oligozoospermic semen compared with that from normozoospermic men (P < 0.01). The majority of morphologically normal immotile human sperm showed excess gammaH2AX staining and nuclear disintegration. However, some had a non-deviant DSB pattern. CONCLUSIONS The increased fraction of DSB-positive sperm in both human and mouse oligozoospermic semen is adding to the surmise that semen from oligozoospermic patients has a reduced chromatin quality, causally related to reduced preimplantation embryo development. The use of ejaculated immotile sperm for in vitro reproduction is debatable due to sperm DNA degradation.
PMID: 17580297 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]