The effects of age on the incidence of aneuploidy rates in spermatozoa of oligoasthenozoospermic patients and its relationship with ICSI outcome

Abstract

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.

Sperm rates of 7q11.23, 15q11q13 and 22q11.2 deletions and duplications: a FISH approach

“…Some authors described an eVect of the donor's age on the frequency of sperm carrying numerical (Asada et al 2000;Bosch et al 2003) or structural chromosome abnormalities (Bosch et al 2003;Sloter et al 2007). By contrast, other authors did not Wnd this relationship (Kurahashi and Emanuel 2001;Plastira et al 2007). Contradictory results could be due to diVerences in the nature of the anomalies: age-dependent and age-independent anomalies could exist, explaining the diVerent results observed to-date.…”

Role of sperm fluorescent in situ hybridization studies in infertile patients: indications, study approach, and clinical relevance

“…Although it is known that advanced maternal age is a risk factor for giving birth to children with aneuploidies, there are mixed results for the risk associated with advanced paternal age (62)(63)(64)(65).…”

“…Although some studies found no correlation (66,67), other investigators report an age effect, but exclusively on the rate of sex chromosome disomy (65,68). Furthermore, it should be mentioned that Plastira et al (65) found a higher rate of sex chromosome aneuploidy in younger men.…”

Clinical outcomes and development of children born after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using extracted testicular sperm or ejaculated extreme severe oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia sperm: a comparative study

“…Also, the relationship between poor-quality semen and the development of embryos as well as clinical outcomes in patients undergoing ICSI is still uncertain (10)(11)(12). It can be reasoned that because spermatozoa were of limited number and good-quality sperm were chosen for ICSI, similar results might have been found after ICSI with different semen qualities (6,(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”