Presence of ribonucleic acid in human spermatozoa: differences in content between normal and abnormal spermatozoa.

Abstract

Our purpose was to determine whether there are any differences in total ribonucleic acid content between normal and abnormal human spermatozoa. Spermatozoa were obtained from men undergoing routine semen analysis at a university-based reproductive genetics laboratory. Specimens were classified as normal or abnormal according to World Health Organization criteria. Total ribonucleic acid was removed by acid-phenol extraction, and ribonucleic acid expression levels were determined by spectrophotometric analysis. Abnormal spermatozoa were found to have significantly more ribonucleic acid (0.14 +/- 0.02 mg/10(6) spermatozoa) than normal spermatozoa (0.05 +/- 0.01 mg/10(6) spermatozoa; P <.001). Ribonucleic acid content is significantly altered in abnormal spermatozoa, and this alteration may be the result of some defect in the posttranscriptional pathway.