Some of the Factors Involved in Male Infertility: A Prospective Review

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Abstract

Infertility is defined as the inability of couples to have a baby after one year of regular unprotected intercourse, affecting 10 to 15% of couples. According to the latest WHO statistics, approximately 50–80 million people worldwide sufer from infertility, and male factors are responsible for approximately 20–30% of all infertility cases. The diagnosis of infertility in men is mainly based on semen analysis. The main parameters of semen include: concentration, appearance and motility of sperm. Causes of infertility in men include a variety of things including hormonal disorders, physical problems, lifestyle problems, psychological issues, sex problems, chromosomal abnormalities and single-gene defects. Despite numerous efforts by researchers to identify the underlying causes of male infertility, about 70% of cases remain unknown. These statistics show a lack of understanding of the mechanisms involved in male infertility. This article focuses on the histology of testicular tissue samples, the male reproductive structure, factors affecting male infertility, strategies available to find genes involved in infertility, existing therapeutic methods for male infertility, and sperm recovery in infertile men.

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Trends of male factor infertility, an important cause of infertility: A review of literature

NAINA KUMAR, Amit Singh (2015)

Infertility and problems of impaired fecundity have been a concern through ages and is also a significant clinical problem today, which affects 8–12% of couples worldwide. Of all infertility cases, approximately 40–50% is due to “male factor” infertility and as many as 2% of all men will exhibit suboptimal sperm parameters. It may be one or a combination of low sperm concentration, poor sperm motility, or abnormal morphology. The rates of infertility in less industrialized nations are markedly higher and infectious diseases are responsible for a greater proportion of infertility. The present literature will help in knowing the trends of male factor infertility in developing nations like India and to find out in future, various factors that may be responsible for male infertility.

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Spermatogenesis: The Commitment to Meiosis.

Michael D. Griswold (2016)

Mammalian spermatogenesis requires a stem cell pool, a period of amplification of cell numbers, the completion of reduction division to haploid cells (meiosis), and the morphological transformation of the haploid cells into spermatozoa (spermiogenesis). The net result of these processes is the production of massive numbers of spermatozoa over the reproductive lifetime of the animal. One study that utilized homogenization-resistant spermatids as the standard determined that human daily sperm production (dsp) was at 45 million per day per testis (60). For each human that means ∼1,000 sperm are produced per second. A key to this level of gamete production is the organization and architecture of the mammalian testes that results in continuous sperm production. The seemingly complex repetitious relationship of cells termed the "cycle of the seminiferous epithelium" is driven by the continuous commitment of undifferentiated spermatogonia to meiosis and the period of time required to form spermatozoa. This commitment termed the A to A1 transition requires the action of retinoic acid (RA) on the undifferentiated spermatogonia or prospermatogonia. In stages VII to IX of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium, Sertoli cells and germ cells are influenced by pulses of RA. These pulses of RA move along the seminiferous tubules coincident with the spermatogenic wave, presumably undergoing constant synthesis and degradation. The RA pulse then serves as a trigger to commit undifferentiated progenitor cells to the rigidly timed pathway into meiosis and spermatid differentiation.

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Incidence and main causes of infertility in a resident population (1,850,000) of three French regions (1988-1989).

Patrick Thonneau, Sophie Marchand, Anne Tallec … (1991)

To estimate the prevalence and main causes of infertility, a multicentre survey was conducted over 1 year (July 1988-June 1989) in three regions of France. All the 1686 couples in these regions, who consulted a practitioner for primary or secondary infertility during this period, were included in the investigation. The prevalence rate of infertility was found to be 14.1%, indicating that one woman out of seven in France will consult a doctor for an infertility problem during her reproductive life. The main causes of female infertility were ovulation disorders (32%) and tubal damage (26%), and of male infertility oligo-terato-asthenozoospermia (21%), asthenozoospermia (17%), teratozoospermia (10%) and azoospermia (9%). Infertility was also found to be caused by disorders in both the male and female partners together; thus in 39% of cases both the man and woman presented with disorders. The woman alone was responsible for infertility in one-third of cases and the man alone in one-fifth. Unexplained infertility was found in 8% of the couples surveyed.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Gen Med

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Gen Med

Journal ID (publisher-id): IJGM

Journal ID (pmc): ijgm

Title: International Journal of General Medicine

Publisher: Dove

ISSN (Electronic): 1178-7074

Publication date (Electronic): 05 February 2020

Publication date Collection: 2020

Volume: 13

Pages: 29-41

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Medical Genetics, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences , Yazd, Iran

[2 ]Research and Clinical Center for Infertility, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences , Yazd, Iran

Author notes

Correspondence: Ali Khodadadian Genetic Department, Clinical and Research Centre for Infertility , Bou-Ali Avenue, Safayeh, Yazd, IranTel +98 351 8247085Fax +98 351 8247087 Email a.khodadadian.ak@gmail.com

Author information

Emad Babakhanzadeh http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9192-2016

Article

Publisher ID: 241099

DOI: 10.2147/IJGM.S241099

PMC ID: 7008178

PubMed ID: 32104049

SO-VID: ccf02127-cd5a-4ae0-85bb-b7e195899464

License:

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms ( https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).

History

Date received : 04 December 2019

Date accepted : 23 January 2020

Page count

Figures: 4, References: 172, Pages: 13

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