Chromosome aberrations in 450 sperm complements from eight controls and lack of increase after chemotherapy in two patients.

Four hundred fifty sperm complements from eight controls were analyzed. A conservative estimate of aneuploidy was 1.8% with a hyperhaploid rate of 0.9% (4/450). The overall frequency of structural aberrations was 8.9% (40/450). The proportion of X-bearing (47.5%) and Y-bearing (52.5%) sperm did not differ significantly. Sperm complements were analyzed from a cancer patient 9 months after polychemotherapy (n = 63) and from a patient being treated with Imurek (azathioprine) (n = 30). There was no significant increase in the incidence of numerical and structural chromosome aberrations in the sperm of either patient. The percentages of X-bearing and Y-bearing sperm were not significantly different from the expected 50%.