Spermatozoal RNA Profiles (U133 Plus 2.0 Array)

Normal human spermatogenesis concludes with the formation of large numbers of morphologically well developed spermatozoa. While transcriptionally quiescent these cells carry an RNA payload that reflects the final spermiogenic phase of transcription. We report here the spermatozoal transcript profiles characteristic of normally fertile individuals and infertile males suffering from a consistent and severe teratozoospermia in which under 4% of spermatozoa are morphologically normal. RNA was extracted from the purified sperm cells of ejaculate and hybridized to Affymetrix U133 (v2) Microarrays. Keywords: disease state analysis Spermatozoal RNAs were prepared from the semen samples of 21 individuals. An asymmetric dual block design was adopted with biological replicates in both blocks. 13 semen samples were assessed from normally fertile males who had fathered at least one child. 8 semen samples were assessed from infertile individuals with a severe and consistent heterogeneous teratozoospermia who showed no other abnormal semen parameters.