Cannabis consumption might exert deleterious effects on sperm nuclear quality in infertile men.

RESEARCH QUESTION: Can cannabis consumption alter sperm nuclear integrity in infertile men? DESIGN: A retrospective cross-sectional study conducted between July 2003 and December 2013, which included 54 men who consulted for male-factor infertility. Twenty-seven infertile men who were regular cannabis users were matched to 27 infertile men who were cannabis non-users. To complement the conventional semen parameter and plasma hormone level assessments, sperm nuclear alterations were explored using fluorescence in-situ hybridization to assess numerical chromosomal abnormalities, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling to investigate DNA fragmentation, aniline blue staining to examine chromatin condensation and a motile sperm organelle morphology examination to detect vacuoles in sperm heads. RESULTS: The rates of sperm aneuploidy (P = 0.0044), diploidy (P = 0.037), total chromosome abnormalities (P = 0.0027) and DNA fragmentation (P = 0.027) were significantly higher in cannabis users than in non-cannabis users. CONCLUSIONS: Cannabis consumption might have deleterious effects on sperm nuclear quality in infertile men by increasing numerical chromosome abnormalities and DNA fragmentation. Cannabis consumption induces these detrimental effects on the progression of spermatogenesis from meiotic stages to spermiogenesis and potentially on post-testicular sperm maturation in infertile men. Any potential findings, however, need to be validated with larger sample size, and our data are only exploratory findings.

[Fertility preservation]. / Préservation de la fertilité.

Fertility preservation. The treatment used to treat cancer or other non-cancer diseases have improved the prognosis of these pathologies. However, these treatments (chemotherapy, radiotherapy or even surgery) have a toxicity on the ovary or on the testicle with consequently a decrease or an arrest of the production of mature oocyte or spermatozoa. Fertility preservation uses freezing procedures of gametes (oocytes, spermatozoa), embryos or germinal tissues (ovary or testicle) in order to restore the fertility of cured patients. The French national sperm banking network (CECOS) is a national network of assisted reproductive technology centers that manage, in a coordinated manner, all of these fertility preservation techniques.

Préservation de la fertilité. Les traitements des cancers, voire de certaines maladies non tumorales ont amélioré le pronostic de ces pathologies. Cependant, ces traitements (chimiothérapie, radiothérapie, voire chirurgie) ont une toxicité sur l'ovaire ou le testicule avec pour conséquence une diminution ou un arrêt de la production d'ovocytes matures ou de spermatozoïdes. La préservation de la fertilité utilise des techniques de congélation des gamètes (ovocytes, spermatozoïdes), des embryons ou des tissus germinaux (ovaire ou testicule) afin de restaurer la fertilité des patients guéris. La Fédération des centres d'étude et de conservation des oeufs et du sperme humains (CECOS) constitue un réseau national de centres d'assistance médicale à la procréation mettant en oeuvre de manière coordonnée l'ensemble de ces techniques de préservation de la fertilité.

Evaluation of sperm nuclear integrity in patients with different percentages of decapitated sperm in ejaculates.

The decapitated sperm defect is a rare type of teratozoospermia responsible for male infertility. Spermatozoa from patients affected by this syndrome are used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) although little is known about their DNA integrity. This study evaluated sperm nuclear alterations in four patients and ten fertile men (control group). Sperm samples were examined by light, transmission electron and high-magnification contrast microscopy and analysed after terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick end labelling, aniline blue staining and fluorescence in-situ hybridization. Spermatozoa from patients presented varying degrees of decapitation, along with morphological and ultrastructural head abnormalities. Whereas the proportion of spermatozoa with fragmented DNA and numerical chromosome abnormalities was similar in patients 1-3 and controls, the percentage of spermatozoa with hypocondensed chromatin was higher in patients 1-3 than in fertile men. Patient 4 presented a distinct phenotype, with an increased proportion of flagellated spermatozoa with DNA strand breaks as well as increased aneuploidy and diploidy rates compared with controls and with patients 1-3. No successful pregnancy resulted from ICSI although embryos were obtained for three patients. The morphological defects and the nuclear alterations observed in spermatozoa of patients with the decapitated sperm syndrome may have contributed to ICSI failures.