Objective: To primarily study the influence of recombination abnormality in human spermatocyte meiosis on the pathology of the patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA).
Methods: We obtained testis tissues from 6 NOA patients by testicular biopsy and divided the tissue of each patient into 2 portions, one for pathological examination and the other for immunofluorescent staining. We observed the synaptonemal complex and the numbers of the recombination sites on homologous chromosomes, and analyzed the relationship between abnormal recombination and pathological findings.
Results: Pathological examination showed that the basement membrane of the seminiferous tubules was thickened in 3 of the cases and atrophied in the other 3, the number of autosomal MLH1 foci in a spermatocyte ranging from 10 to 50 in the former 3, and from 30 to 50 in the latter 3.
Conclusion: The increased range of the homologous chromosomal recombination frequency may be one of the possible factors for the thickening of seminiferous tubule basement membrane and even lumen occlusion in NOA patients.