Detection of Y Chromosome Microdeletions and Hormonal Profile Analysis of Infertile Men undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Objective Y chromosome deletions (YCDs) in azoospermia factor (AZF) region are associated with abnormal spermatogenesis and may lead to azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and testicular sperm extraction (TESE) are commonly required for infertility management of patients carrying YCDs. The aim of this study was to estimate the frequency of YCDs, to find the most frequent variant in infertile men candidate for ART and to compare YCD distribution with a control fertile group. The semen parameters, hormonal profiles and ART outcomes of the infertile group were studied. MaterialsAndMethods This case-control study consisted of 97 oligozoospermic or non-obstructive azoospermic (NOA) infertile men, who had undergone ART, as the case group and 100 fertile men as the control group. DNA samples were extracted from blood samples taken from all 197 participants and YCDs were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of eight known sequence-tagged sites. The chi-square test was used to compare the mean values of hormone and sperm parameters between the two groups. P