Abstract
The introduction of intracytoplasmic sperm injection has led to an unfortunate decrease of interest in male fertility. It is apparent that light microscopy provides limited information and molecular techniques show that DNA abnormalities need to be considered further. Abnormalities include, not only Yq11 deletions, but also DNA strand breaks. Increases in advanced glycation end products in sperm from well-controlled diabetics may provide a mechanism for this damage in nondiabetics. In addition, much publicity is given to decreasing male fertility: this is not confirmed and technical variations and differences in study populations make it difficult to draw conclusions. The generation of stem cell-derived germ cells provides hope for men without germ cells but this is currently only experimental.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant financial interests related to this manuscript, including employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.