Diploid sperm and the origin of triploidy

Abstract

Trisomy 16, the 45,X monosomy and triploidy are the more frequent chromosome anomalies in spontaneous abortions. Earlier estimations, based on frequencies of diandric triploidy at conception, resulted in a good correlation with the frequencies of diploid sperm in infertile males (up to 1.9%). Recent data have shown that most diandric triploids originate by dispermy, although 8.3% of them are produced by diploid sperm resulting from meiotic errors. Using these data, the estimated frequency of diploid sperm is still in good correlation with the percentage above. Furthermore, analysis of male pronuclei (PN) in 3PN zygotes produced by ICSI with sperm from oligo-, crypto- and azoospermic males revealed that 33.3% of them were diploid, while none of the PN produced by normozoospermic males by IVF was. The estimated frequency of diploid sperm in these infertile males is also in good correlation with the previous figures. The data suggest that most diandric triploids are produced by normozoospermic males by dispermy, while most diandric triploids produced by oligozoospermic males would result from fertilization by unreduced, diploid sperm.