Male Infertility Due to Y Chromosome

Humans have two chromosomes that determine their sex; the Y and the X. Males have an X and a Y chromosome and females have two X's. When the Y chromosome is damaged, male infertility can be caused.

History

• In 1995, scientists from the United States and Finland, found a defect in the Y chromosome that was responsible for infertility in males.

Can't Make Sperm

• According to an article in Timesonline, "David Page, of the Whitehead Institute for Biological Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who led the research, said affected individuals range from a man with no sperm who is otherwise healthy," to other abnormal sex syndromes.

Men Are Healthy Otherwise

• In the study, the Y chromosome of 89 healthy men who had no sperm was studied. They found that 13 percent of these, otherwise healthy men, were missing part of the Y chromosome.

Azoospermia

• The term azoospermia is the term used when a man is unable to create any sperm at all in is testes. The genes critical to sperm development are on the Y chromosome, it they are lost, the resulting male embryo will grow into a man who is not able to make sperm.

Benefits

• Infertility, throughout history, has often been thought of as the female's problem. In recent years, more studies have been done to understand the males role in infertility. Before this time, many men did not understand why they were infertile.