Immunofluorescent synaptonemal complex analysis in azoospermic men

The molecular cause of germ cell meiotic defects in azoospermic men is rarely known. During meiotic prophase I, a proteinaceous structure called the synaptonemal complex (SC) appears along the pairing axis of homologous chromosomes and meiotic recombination takes place. Newly-developed immunofluorescence techniques for SC proteins (SCP1 and SCP3) and for a DNA mismatch repair protein (MLH1) present in late recombination nodules allow simultaneous analysis of synapsis, and of meiotic recombination, during the first meiotic prophase in spermatocytes. This immunofluorescent SC analysis enables accurate meiotic prophase substaging and the identification of asynaptic pachytene spermatocytes. Spermatogenic defects were examined in azoospermic men using immunofluorescent SC and MLH1 analysis. Five males with obstructive azoospermia, 18 males with nonobstructive azoospermia and 11 control males with normal spermatogenesis were recruited for the study. In males with obstructive azoospermia, the fidelity of chromosome pairing (determined by the percentage of cells with gaps [discontinuities]/splits [unpaired chromosome regions] in the SCs, and nonexchange SCs [bivalents with 0 MLH1 foci]) was similar to those in normal males. The recombination frequencies (determined by the mean number of MLH1 foci per cell at the pachytene stage) were significantly reduced in obstructive azoospermia compared to that in controls. In men with nonobstructive azoospermia, a marked heterogeneity in spermatogenesis was found: 45% had a complete absence of meiotic cells; 5% had germ cells arrested at the zygotene stage of meiotic prophase; the rest had impaired fidelity of chromosome synapsis and significantly reduced recombination in pachytene. In addition, significantly more cells were in the leptotene and zygotene meiotic prophase stages in nonobstructive azoospermic patients, compared to controls. Defects in chromosome pairing and decreased recombination during meiotic prophase may have led to spermatogenesis arrest and contributed in part to this unexplained infertility.