Abstract: Objective To investigate the association between oligospermatism and azoospermatism in male sterility patients and micro-deletion in AZF gene of Y chromosome and to establish a integrate clinical diagnostic method for screening micro-deletion in AZF gene in Chinese. Methods PCR method was used to detect micro-deletion in AZF gene in 62 oligospermatism and azoospermatism patients and 20 normal male controls. Results 13.64%(6/44) of oligospermatism patients and 22.22%(4/18) of azoospermatism patients presented micro-deletion. However, micro-deletion was not found in 20 normal male controls. Furthermore, micro-deletion occur mostly in AZFc region. Conclusion Micro-deletion in AZF gene of Y chromosome is one of the major risks for oligospermatism and azoospermatism.

Key words: azoospermatism, oligospermatism, AZF gene, PCR method, micro-deletion in gene