Purpose To investigate the effects of male ageing on DNA fragmentation and chromatin packaging in the spermatozoa of oligoasthenoteratozoospermic (OAT) patients. Methods Sixty-one OAT patients and 49 men with proven fertility (controls) were included in the present study. DNA fragmentation was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay, while chromatin packaging was assessed by chromomycin A 3 (CMA 3 ) staining. Results In the patient group, semen volume, percentage of normally shaped spermatozoa and sperm motility decreased significantly (P<0.05) with age, while sperm concentration and the percentage of TUNEL and CMA 3 positive spermatozoa showed a statistically significant increase with age (P<0.05). In the control group, conventional semen parameters as well as DNA fragmentation and chromatin packaging did not show a statistically significant change with age (P>0.05). Conclusion Increased age in OAT patients is associated with an increase in sperm concentration, DNA fragmentation and poor chromatin packaging, as well as a decline in semen volume, sperm morphology and motility.

Human sperm DNA damage may have adverse effects on reproductive outcome. Infertile men possess substantially more spermatozoa with damaged DNA compared to fertile donors. Although the extent of this abnormality is closely related to sperm function, the underlying etiology of ensuing male infertility is still largely controversial. Both intra-testicular and post-testicular events have been postulated and different mechanisms have been proposed to explain the presence of damaged DNA in human spermatozoa. Three among them, i.e. abnormal chromatin packaging, oxidative stress and apoptosis, are the most studied and discussed in the present review. Furthermore, results from numerous investigations are presented, including our own findings on these pathological conditions, as well as the techniques applied for their evaluation. The crucial points of each methodology on the successful detection of DNA damage and their validity on the appraisal of infertile patients are also discussed. Along with the conventional parameters examined in the standard semen analysis, evaluation of damaged sperm DNA seems to complement the investigation of factors affecting male fertility and may prove an efficient diagnostic tool in the prediction of pregnancy outcome.

The successful treatment of breast cancer is dependent upon a number of complex factors. Her-2/neu gene amplification is known to be one of the most common genetic alterations associated with breast cancer and its accurate determination has become necessary for the selection of patients for trastuzumab therapy. The aim of this study was to prove the consistency of chromogenic in situ hybridisation (CISH) technique after analyzing the overexpression of the Her-2/neu proto-oncogene in 100 invasive breast carcinomas and by comparing CISH results with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). Moreover, it was done to evaluate the possible correlation of estrogen (ERs) and progesterone receptors (PRs), the proliferation marker Ki67 and the tumour suppressor gene p53 with HER-2/neu status of these breast carcinomas. Of the 100 breast carcinomas that were analysed, 22 cases showed HER-2/neu amplification, 66 cases showed no amplification, whereas 12 cases were non-interpretable in both assays (FISH and CISH). Consequently, the overall concordance between FISH and CISH was 100%. Additionally, it was observed that when HER-2/neu gene was overexpressed, there was an association with negative PRs and ERs status, negative p53 protein expression and high Ki67 labelling index. It is concluded that patients with tumours scoring 2+ with the CBE356 antibody (borderline immunohistochemistry-tested cases) would also benefit from CISH as it is shown to be highly accurate, practical and can be easily integrated into routine testing in any histopathology laboratory. Finally, CISH represents an important addition to the HER2 testing algorithm.

The development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for treatment of infertility as a result of severe male factor has improved the chances of achieving pregnancy in many infertile couples. However, concerns have been raised regarding the safety of this technique, because natural sperm selection is bypassed. In the present study, 25 oligoasthenozoospermic patients who were divided into two groups according to age: group A, 20-34 (n = 10) and group B, 35-50 (n = 15), were included. Pooling the data of the three semen parameters that were tested (volume, concentration and progressive motility) no statistically significant difference between the two age groups was found. A total of 50 883 decondensed spermatozoa was analysed using the dual and triple colour fluorescence in situ hybridization to estimate the rates of aneuploidy for chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y in the two age groups. There was a significantly higher incidence of disomy for chromosome 21 compared to the other autosomes (chromosomes 13 and 18) in both age groups. The disomy rate of XY was significantly higher in the younger subject group (0.1%) compared to the older group (0.05%, p < 0.05). Statistically significant differences in the mean number of clinical pregnancies and abortions were not observed between the two age groups. The aneuploidy rates for all the analysed chromosomes did not differ significantly, both between and within the two age groups, and as a result there seems to be no effect of male age on chromosome numbers in the spermatozoa and on the ICSI outcome.

Normal (n = 20) and abnormal (n = 21) semen samples were explored for possible relationships between conventional semen parameters, chromatin status, and microdeletions in the Y chromosome. DNA fragmentation was detected by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl trasferase-mediated dUTP-nick end labelling (TUNEL) assay, chromatin condensation, and DNA packaging quality were assessed by chromomycin A3 (CMA(3)) staining. All men were investigated for Y chromosome microdeletions using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). No deletions were detected in 21 severely oligozoospermic men for the three screened regions (AZFa, AZFb, and AZFc). Men with normal semen parameters showed better chromatin condensation. Spermatozoa with low motility were more likely to contain loosely packaged chromatin. In the abnormal semen group, DNA fragmentation (TUNEL) correlated significantly with sperm motility, concentration, and chromatin packaging assessed by chromomycin A3. However sperm morphology did not correlate significantly with TUNEL and CMA(3) staining.