• PMID: 11250796
• Gene Name: PCNA
• Condition: Hypospermatogenesis, germinal arrest, Sertoli cell only syndrome
• Association: The infertile patients were divided into 4 groups: Group 1, normal spermatogenesis (14 cases); Group 2, hypospermatogenesis (16 cases); Group 3, germinal arrest (10 cases); Group 4, Sertoli cell only syndrome (8 cases). The PCNA PI of normal control testi
• Population size: 48
• Population details: 48 (14 normal spermatogenesis, 16 hypospermatogenesis, 10 germinal arrest, 8 Sertoli cell only syndrome)
• Sex: Male
• Infertility type: Male infertility
• Other associated phenotypes: Hypospermatogenesis, germinal arrest, Sertoli cell only syndrome

Evaluation of germ-cell kinetics in infertile patients with proliferating cell nuclear antigen proliferating index

Zeng L, Kong XT, Su JW, Xia TL, Na YQ, Guo YL.

AIM: To explore the usefulness of proliferating cell nuclear antigen proliferating index (PCNA PI) in the pathological diagnosis and treatment of male infertility. METHODS: Testicular biopsy specimen obtained from 48 cases of male infertility and 2 normal controls were fixed and embedded. The sections were stained with anti-PCNA monoclonal antibodies or haematoxylin/eosin. Proliferating index (PI), expressed as the percentage of germ-cell nuclei positively stained with PCNA antibody, was assessed from more than 20 seminiferous tubules or 600 germ-cells. RESULTS: The infertile patients were divided into 4 groups: Group 1, normal spermatogenesis (14 cases); Group 2, hypospermatogenesis (16 cases); Group 3, germinal arrest (10 cases); Group 4, Sertoli cell only syndrome (8 cases). The PCNA PI of normal control testis was 86.5% (mean value). Group 3 had a significantly lower PCNA PI (29.8%) than normal testis; Group 1 and 2 had similar PIs (82.3% and 82.3%, respectively) as the control testis. PI of the negative control (Group 4) was 0 as no germ-cells were found. CONCLUSION: PCNA PI is useful for assessing germ-cell kinetics, especially for pathological diagnosis of germinal arrest which is difficult to differentiate by routine HE staining technique. In germinal arrest, there is a significantly lowered PCNA PI, which is an indication of DNA synthesis deterioration, suggesting the use of therapies be different from those for hypospermatogenesis. FAU - Zeng, L AU - Zeng L AD - Institute of Urology, Peking University, Beijing, China. zengli@263.net FAU - Kong, X T AU - Kong XT FAU - Su, J W AU - Su JW FAU - Xia, T L AU - Xia TL FAU - Na, Y Q AU - Na YQ