Purpose The lengths of CAG repeats in two spinocerebellar ataxia genes; SCA1 and SCA3; were analyzed to determine whether such repeats exist in higher numbers in infertile males.
Methods
Blood samples were collected from healthy controls; oligozoospermia patients; and azoospermia patients. DNA fragments containing target CAG repeats were amplified by PCR with template DNA purified from the blood samples. CAG repeats in PCR fragments were determined; using ABI PRISM 310 Gene Analyzer.
Results
In SCA1; the distribution of CAG repeats in oligozoospermic males was different from that of the control group: More alleles had a repeat number that exceeded 32. Conversely; for SCA3; the examined oligozoospermia and azoospermia patients exhibited no differences in distribution of CAG repeats in comparison with the control group.
Conclusions
SCA1 in a subset of oligozoospermia patients has an increased number of CAG repeats.
