Inbreeding can increase the risk of infertility in Indian men – details inside

Hyderabad: A team of researchers has identified that Y chromosome deletions, responsible for sperm production, can cause sterility in Indian men.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, shows how ethnicity, endogamy and long-standing geographic isolation of Indian populations could have played a major role in the high frequency of deletion events.

According to researchers, including K. Thangaraj of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, deletions in the AZoospermia (AZF) factor regions on the human Y chromosome would be one of the most common causes of severe testiculopathy and defects spermatogens leading to male infertility.

For the study, the researchers examined blood samples from 973 infertile men, comprising 771 patients with azoospermia (total absence of sperm), 105 oligozoospermia (low sperm count) and 97 oligoteratozoosperm patients (low number of spermatozoa with abnormal shape and size).

Deletion screening was performed using AZF specific markers. The experiments were carried out in accordance with existing guidelines and regulations approved for research on human samples.

The study revealed deletion events in 29.4% of infertile Indian men. Of these, the non-allelic homologous recombination events accounted for 25.8%.

The Indian populations are unique by their origin and have practiced endogamy for two thousand years. It is therefore important to add a study on the frequency of AZF deletions on the Y chromosome and their badociation with fertility in infertile men with idiopathic studies from other parts of the world, the researchers said.