Human Reproduction, Vol. 15, No. 6, 1377-1382,
June 2000
© 2000 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Progression to the blastocyst stage of embryos derived from testicular round spermatids
Assisted Reproduction Unit, American Hospital of Istanbul, Turkey
Progression to the blastocyst stage of embryos derived from testicular round spermatids in men with non-obstructive azoospermia was studied. A total of 56 men were studied in whom partial spermatogenesis failure had occurred where only very few spermatozoa (fewer than the number of oocytes retrieved) were extracted from multiple testicular biopsy specimens. Oocytes remaining after intracytoplasmic injection of testicular spermatozoa (group 1) were injected with round spermatids (ROSI, group 2). Only embryos derived from group 1 were transferred. Remaining embryos were observed under culture for 8 days and their progression to the blastocyst stage was recorded. Of the 546 oocytes injected with testicular spermatozoa, 404 (73.9%) showed evidence of 2-pronuclear (2PN) fertilization. Injection of testicular round spermatids resulted in 2PN fertilization rate of 50% (P < 0.05). Using a four-point grading system, 53% of the good quality embryos (grade 1 or 2) in group 1 reached the blastocyst stage compared with 25% in group 2 (P < 0.05). The rate of progression to the blastocyst stage of grade 3 and grade 4 embryos was 46 and 8.5% in the two groups respectively (P < 0.05). Using a different three-point grading system for the blastocysts, 75.3% of the blastocysts in group 1 were either grade 1 or grade 2 and 24.7% were grade 3. However, in group 2 all blastocysts were grade 3. All embryos observed in group 1 reached the blastocyst stage by day 5 or 6 compared with 25% of the embryos reaching the blastocyst stage by this time in group 2. While 31.2% of the blastocysts in group 1 showed evidence of spontaneous hatching in vitro, none of the blastocysts in group 2 hatched. In conclusion, progression to the blastocyst stage occurred at a much lower and slower rate in embryos derived from testicular round spermatids. Furthermore, all blastocysts resulting from ROSI were of poor quality and none showed spontaneous hatching. These results may explain the dismal outcome associated with ROSI.
Key words: azoospermia/blastocyst/spermatid/spermatozoa/testicular sperm extraction
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: VKV American Hospital, Guzelbahce sok. No:20, Nisantasi 80200, Istanbul, Turkey. E-mail: burman{at}superonline.com
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  S. Hayashi, J. Yang, L. Christenson, R. Yanagimachi, and N. B. Hecht Mouse Preimplantation Embryos Developed from Oocytes Injected with Round Spermatids or Spermatozoa Have Similar but Distinct Patterns of Early Messenger RNA Expression Biol Reprod, October 1, 2003; 69(4): 1170 - 1176. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. T. Mansour, I. M. Fahmy, A. K. Taha, N. A. Tawab, G. I. Serour, and M. A. Aboulghar Intracytoplasmic Spermatid Injection Can Result in the Delivery of Normal Offspring J Androl, September 1, 2003; 24(5): 757 - 764. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 I. Virant-Klun, T. Tomazevic, B. Zorn, L. Bacer-Kermavner, J. Mivsek, and H. Meden-Vrtovec Blastocyst formation--good indicator of clinical results after ICSI with testicular spermatozoa Hum. Reprod., May 1, 2003; 18(5): 1070 - 1076. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Sousa, N. Cremades, J. Silva, C. Oliveira, L. Ferraz, J.T. da Silva, P. Viana, and A. Barros Predictive value of testicular histology in secretory azoospermic subgroups and clinical outcome after microinjection of fresh and frozen-thawed sperm and spermatids Hum. Reprod., July 1, 2002; 17(7): 1800 - 1810. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. Urman, C. Alatas, S. Aksoy, R. Mercan, A. Nuhoglu, A. Mumcu, A. Isiklar, and B. Balaban Transfer at the blastocyst stage of embryos derived from testicular round spermatid injection Hum. Reprod., March 1, 2002; 17(3): 741 - 743. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Sousa, N. Cremades, C. Alves, J. Silva, and A. Barros Developmental potential of human spermatogenic cells co-cultured with Sertoli cells Hum. Reprod., January 1, 2002; 17(1): 161 - 172. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Cremades, M. Sousa, R. Bernabeu, and A. Barros Developmental potential of elongating and elongated spermatids obtained after in-vitro maturation of isolated round spermatids Hum. Reprod., September 1, 2001; 16(9): 1938 - 1944. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. Johnson, C. Staub, W. B. Neaves, and R. Yanagimachi Live human germ cells in the context of their spermatogenic stages Hum. Reprod., August 1, 2001; 16(8): 1575 - 1582. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|