[Is sexual abstinence a factor in the etiology of chromosome abnormalities?].

Some epidemiological and experimental data in mouse have suggested that there could exist a relationship between sexual abstinence duration and occurrence of chromosomal disorders. In order to determine whether sexual abstinence exerts an effect on the incidence of chromosomal abnormalities in Human, sperm chromosome complements of 4 men were analyzed after fusion with golden hamster eggs. The period of abstinence ranged from 2 days to 15 days. Seven hundred and seventy five karyotypes were obtained. The overall frequency of abnormalities was 9.4% that is not different from controls. There was no correlation between the length of the sexual abstinence and each type of chromosomal abnormality but an indirect effect of paternal aging cannot be excluded.