Nuclear sperm integrity and ICSI prognosis in Tunisian patients with MMAF syndrome (multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella)

Abstract

Multiple Morphological Abnormalities of the Sperm Flagella (MMAF) is a severe form of teratozoospermia associated with several sperm flagellar abnormalities. The study included 52 patients with MMAF syndrome and a control group of 25 fertile men. The impact of nuclear sperm quality on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) results was studied in 20 couples. TUNEL assay was used to assess sperm DNA fragmentation and aniline-blue staining was used to assess chromatin condensation. To investigate chromosomal meiotic segregation, we used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Semen morphology analysis revealed a mosaic of multiple flagella morphological abnormalities, including 46.73% short flagella, 16.22% bent flagella, 22.07% coiled flagella, and 10.90% absent flagella, all of which were associated with a high percentage of sperm head abnormalities. The mean DNA fragmentation index was substantially higher in patients compared to controls (p = 0.001), whereas the rate of aniline blue-reacted spermatozoa was not significantly different. There was a significant difference in aneuploidy frequencies between the two groups (p < 0.05). Infertile males with MMAF syndrome had lower sperm nuclear quality, which affected ICSI results. As a result, better sperm selection procedures are being employed to increase the success rate of assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

Keywords:

• MMAF syndrome
• DNA fragmentation
• chromatin condensation
• sperm aneuploidy
• ART

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).