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. 2000 Jan;17(1):51–59. doi: 10.1023/A:1009454114973

The Effects of Age and Abnormal Sperm Count on the Nondisjunction of Spermatozoa

H Asada 1,2, K Sueoka 1, T Hashiba 1, M Kuroshima 1, N Kobayashi 1, Y Yoshimura 1
PMCID: PMC3455190  PMID: 10754784

Abstract

Purpose: The effect of paternal age on the nondisjunctionof sex chromosomes is controversial. Also, the prevalenceof chromosomal anomalies in infertile patients iscontroversial, it has been reported that the sex chromosomalaneuploidy rate following treatment with intracytoplasmic sperminjection (ICSI) is higher than in naturally conceivedpregnancies. We investigated the influence of paternal age andoligozoospermia on the nondisjunction of spermatozoa.

Methods: We determined the rate of aneuploidy forgonosomes and autosomes, using two-color fluorescence in situhybridization (FISH) of the X and Y chromosomes andchromosomes 12 and 18 in 10 donors under 25 years of agewho had a normal sperm count (≤20 × 106/ml), 10 donorsover the age of 39 years with idiopathic infertility andnormozoospermia (≤20 × 106/ml), and 5 oligozoospermicdonors (<20 × 106/ml).

Results: There was no obvious relationship betweenincreasing age and autosomal disomy (disomy 12 and disomy 18).Neither autosomal disomy nor diploidy was increased inany group. The frequency of X-, Y-, XX-, and YY-bearingsperm did not differ significantly among groups, but thefrequency of XY-bearing sperm was significantly higher inthe older infertile group than in the control donors.

Conclusions: The incidence of nondisjunction of paternalsex chromosome in meiosis I was higher in older men withidiopathic infertility. The present results suggest that therisk of producing XXY fetuses is higher among men >39years of age with idiopathic infertility.

Keywords: paternal age, nondisjunction, spermatozoa, sex chromosome

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