Correlation between semen parameters and sperm aneuploidy rates investigated by fluorescence in-situ hybridization in infertile men

Spermatozoa from 32 infertile patients and 13 controls with normal semen parameters were analysed using dual and triple colour fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) techniques, in order to investigate the rates of aneuploidy for chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y. The patients were divided into three groups according to their karyotypes or the karyotypes of their offspring: 15 were infertile men with abnormal semen parameters and normal karyotypes (group 1), 13 were infertile men with abnormal karyotypes and normal or abnormal semen (group 2) and four were infertile men with abnormal semen and normal karyotypes but whose wives conceived a child (or a fetus) with a numerical chromosomal abnormality through an intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle (group 3). Patients with abnormal semen parameters showed a significantly higher aneuploidy rate for the investigated chromosomes in their spermatozoa compared to controls (P < 0.005). Our data suggest the presence of a correlation between poor semen parameters and an increase in aneuploidy rate of chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y in spermatozoa (r = -0.81071, P < 0.002); therefore the risk of a chromosomal aneuploidy in spermatozoa seems to be inversely correlated to sperm concentration and total progressive motility. Patients with abnormal karyotypes showed a higher incidence of diploidy and chromosomal aneuploidies compared to controls (P < 0.002). This strongly suggests the presence of an interchromosomal effect of the cytogenetic rearrangement. Men who fathered a child with an abnormal karyotype through intracytoplasmic sperm injection did not present a higher aneuploidy rate for the investigated chromosomes in spermatozoa compared to patients with infertility due to a similar male factor but showed higher incidence of chromosomal aneuploidy compared to normal controls.