Micronucleated spermatids in the seminal fluid of smokers and nonsmokers.

This study presents a novel approach to the analysis of chromosome damage in human male germ cells. Round spermatids are present at a low frequency in seminal fluid, and meiotic chromosome breakage may be observed in these cells by analyzing micronuclei (MN). Semen samples from 68 men, including 62 subfertile men and 6 fertile donors, were analyzed. Preparations were made of the round cell types in the semen and after PAS-hematoxylin staining, the number of MN in 100 Golgi-phase or cap-phase spermatids was scored per man. The frequencies of MN were 1.15 +/- 1.42% in the smoking subfertile men and 0.82 +/- 1.30% in the nonsmoking subfertile men. The difference was not statistically significant. When the smokers were divided into groups according to the number of cigarettes smoked per day, no significant differences were observed compared to the nonsmokers. Neither was an effect of smoking observed when the time smoked in years was taken into account. The frequency of MN in ejaculated spermatids in human males was observed to be considerably higher than that reported for testicular spermatids of unexposed rodents.