An analysis of human sperm chromosome aneuploidy.

A sperm chromosome analysis of 24 men with normal or balanced karyotypes was carried out to study the frequency of sperm chromosome aneuploidy. A total of 3,446 human sperm complements (36-315 per donor) was analyzed after in vitro penetration of hamster eggs. Two sets of donors were studied at two different centers in the United States (center 1) and Spain (center 2). The frequencies of hyperhaploidy and hypohaploidy in control donors were similar between center 1 (1.9% vs. 7.7%) and center 2 (1.8% vs. 10.3%). In carrier donors there were no significant differences between the two centers in the frequency of hyperhaploidy (0.8% vs. 1.9%), but that of hypohaploidy was significantly higher in center 2 (11.0%) than in center 1 (4.6%). A significant excess of hypohaploid complements, as compared to hyperhaploid complements, was found in both centers in both control and carrier donors. The sex ratio was similar in both centers and did not differ significantly from a 1:1 sex ratio. The larger chromosomes in the complement (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 10) presented a significantly lower frequency of hypohaploidy, while some of the smaller chromosomes (13, 19, and 21) showed a higher frequency of hypohaploidy than expected. Chromosome 21 and the sex chromosomes showed an increase in the percentage of hyperhaploidy, as compared to other chromosomes, that was close to statistical significance (P = 0.08). Our results reflect a preferential loss of small chromosomes during slide preparation and suggest that chromosome 21 and the sex chromosomes could be more frequently involved in aneuploidy.

An analysis of human sperm chromosome breakpoints.

Sperm chromosome analysis of 19 sperm donors with either normal or balanced karyotypes was carried out in order to explore the nature of sperm chromosome structural aberrations. A total of 2,389 cells (range 36-298/donor) were karyotyped after in vitro penetration of hamster eggs. The median percentage of sperm structural aberrations was 9.3% (SD +/- 4.7; range 0%-17.8%), with a total of 247 breakpoints, of which 220 could be characterized fully. Two sets of donors were studied in two different centers: center 1 (United States) and center 2 (Spain). The frequencies of nonrejoined and rejoined chromosome-type aberrations were very similar between center 1 and center 2: 83.6% and 10.0%, and 75.0% and 10.3%, respectively. Chromatid-type aberrations were more frequent in center 2 (14.7%) than in center 1 (6.4%) (P = .037). Chromosome 4 had less than the expected number of breakpoints (P < .001). A positive significant correlation was found between sperm breakpoints reported in this study and sites of balanced chromosome de novo rearrangements detected at prenatal diagnosis and reported in the literature (P = .0001).

Segregation analysis of four translocations, t(2;18), t(3;15), t(5;7), and t(10;12), by sperm chromosome studies and a review of the literature.

We examined the meiotic segregation patterns of 444 sperm cells belonging to four reciprocal translocation carriers, t(2;18)(p21;q11.2), t(3;15)(q26.2; q26.1), t(5;7)(q13; p15.1), and t(10;12)(q26.1;p13.3). For the t(2;18) carrier, the frequencies of alternate, adjacent-1, adjacent-2, and 3:1 segregations were 41.9%, 35.2%, 14.4%, and 8.4%, respectively. For the t(3;15) carrier, the segregation pattern was 48% alternate, 36% adjacent-1, 12% adjacent-2, 2% 3:1, and 2% 4:0. One cell was the result of a 4:0 segregation. For the t(5;7) heterozygote, the corresponding segregation frequencies were 40.2%, 26.2%, 16.6%, and 17.0%. This translocation heterozygote showed a higher number of 3:1 segregations than adjacent-2 segregations, which is unusual. The t(10;12) segregations were 61.1%, 26.3%, 6.9%, and 5.6%. The percentages of chromosome abnormalities unrelated to the translocation ranged from 0% to 0.6% for aneuploidy and from 5.5% to 10.9% for structural abnormalities. These frequencies are within the ranges for control donors. Sperm chromosome data from the literature on the segregation of 30 reciprocal translocations were reviewed.