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https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jgen/099/0018

azoospermia; azoospermia factor; Y chromosome; microdeletions; Iraq.

In human gamete development, the important period is spermatogenesis, which is organized by specific genes on Y chromosome. In some cases, the infertile men have shown microdeletions on Y chromosome, which seemed as if the structural chromosome variance is linked to the reduction of sperm count. This study aimed to determine the frequency and patterns of Y chromosome microdeletions in azoospermia factor (AZF) of Iraqi infertile males. Here, 90 azoospermic infertile males as a study group and 95 normal fertile males as control group were investigated for the microdeletion of AZF loci using numerous sequence-tagged sites. Of these 90 infertile male patients, 43 (47.8%) demonstrated Y chromosome microdeletions, in which AZFb region was the most deleted section inazoospermia patients (33.3%) followed by deletions in the AZFc region (23%), while there were no microdeletion in the AZFa region. The largest microdeletion involved in both AZFb and AZFc was detected in six azoospermic patients (6.7%). The present study demonstrated a high frequency of Y chromosome microdeletions in the infertile Iraqi patients which is not reported previously. The high frequency of deletions may be due to the association of ethnic and genetic factors. PCR-based Y chromosome screening for microdeletions has a potential to be used in infertility clinics for genetic counselling and assisted reproduction.

ANWAR M. AL-JANABI¹ ALI IBRAHIM RAHIM² SHEHAB A. FARIS² SALIH M. AL-KHAFAJI² DHAFER JAWAD³

1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Kufa, P.O. Box (21), Najaf, Iraq
2. Department of Anatomy and Histology, College of Medicine, University of Kufa, P.O. Box (21), Najaf, Iraq
3. Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Kufa, P.O. Box (21), Najaf, Iraq

Published

2 March 2020

Manuscript received

21 September 2019

Manuscript revised

27 October 2019

Accepted

6 January 2020