[PROK1, prognostic marker of embryo implantation?].

In spite of improvements in assisted reproductive technology (ART) during the last 30 years, the rate of pregnancy remains constrained, as only about 25 % of embryo transfer lead to successful pregnancies, even with an average of two embryos replaced. Embryo selection is currently based on the establishment of morphokinetic scores, a method that obviously exhibits limitations. Therefore, the assessment of embryo development potency by criteria of higher predictive value is mandatory in order to increase the rates of pregnancy.

Fine mapping of re-arranged Y chromosome in three infertile patients with non-obstructive azoospermia/cryptozoospermia.

Background: Cytogenetically detectable aberrations of the Y chromosome, such as isodicentrics, rings or translocations are sometimes associated with male non-obstructive infertility. This report presents a detailed analysis of the clinical, cytogenetic and molecular data in three patients with a re-arranged Y chromosome.

Methods: Patients A and B were azoospermic, whereas patient C was cryptozoospermic.

Predictive factors for an increased risk of sperm aneuploidies in oligo-astheno-teratozoospermic males.

Patients with severe spermatogenesis impairment can now successfully father a child thanks to the use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In oligozoospermic patients, many studies have reported significantly higher sperm aneuploidy rates and therefore an increased risk of transmitting a chromosomal abnormality via the injection of abnormal spermatozoa. However, the frequency of aneuploidy is highly variable between patients.

Polyploidy in large-headed sperm: FISH study of three cases.

Background: Macrocephalic or large headed sperm with multiflagella is a rare abnormality often associated with infertility. Sperm chromosomal abnormalities could be associated with this specific morphological abnormality.

Methods: The cytogenetic content of large-headed sperm was assessed by dual and three-colour fluorescence in-situ hybridization in three patients carrying this specific morphological abnormality.

Risk of trisomy 21 in offspring of patients with Klinefelter's syndrome.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has given some patients with Klinefelter's syndrome (ie, men with an XXY sex-chromosome profile) the chance to become fathers, but the genetic makeup of the spermatozoa used for the injection is a concern. We studied the segregation of the sex chromosomes and chromosomes 1 and 21 by multicolour fluorescence in-situ hybridisation in a patient with non-mosaic Klinefelter's syndrome who was a candidate for ICSI. As other workers have found, we saw a higher rate of 24,XX and 24,XY spermatozoa in the patient than in controls.

[Pregnancy after ovariectomy as a result of preservation of the embryos].

We report the first published case of pregnancy obtained with a self-preserved embryo in a woman who, in 1987, had been castrated for a tumoral and painful pelvic disease retrospectively diagnosed as endometriosis. This woman had an old-standing tuboperitoneal infertility, and in vitro fertilization had been performed, followed by cryopreservation of the embryos. Two embryos were transferred during an artificially induced oestro-progestogenic cycle.