[Incidence of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in idiopathic male sterility. Preliminary study]

Studies of SCE show a marked increase in the field of diseases correlated with DNA replication defects. A number of cases of idiopathic sterility and oligospermia can be placed in this group. The aim of the present study is to explore the frequency of SCEs in subjects with idiopathic sterility, oligospermia and oligo-astheno-terato-zoospermia. Results were obtained by the Perry and Wolff method. Our study of the incidence of SCEs does not show a significant difference between sterile and oligospermic patients and control subjects, for chromosomes of the A, B, C, D, F and G groups. The only chromosomes with a slight increase of SCE frequency were chromosomes 16 and 18. Because of the small number of cases studied, further work to elucidate the situation is necessary.