Foresta Carlo, Selice Riccardo, Garolla Andrea, Ferlin Alberto
a University of Padova, Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnologies, Section of Clinical Pathology & Centre for Male Gamete Cryopreservation, Via Gabelli 63, 35121 Padova, Italy.
b University of Padova, Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnologies, Section of Clinical Pathology & Centre for Male Gamete Cryopreservation, Via Gabelli 63, 35121 Padova, Italy.
Expert Rev Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Nov;3(6):761-770. doi: 10.1586/17446651.3.6.761.
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) plays a crucial role in human reproduction. Already, in the fetal and neonatal developmental stages, FSH activates the proliferation of the Sertoli cells and successively, in the pubertal phase, induces the mitotic activity of the spermatogonia and supports cellular differentiation to the round spermatid stage. This physiological role in spermatogenesis has induced various attempts to treat idiopathic oligozoospermic men with FSH. It is well known that treatment with gonadotrophins is very effective in subjects affected by hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, often leading to the restoration of normal spermatogenesis. The success of this treatment in these men has brought the utilization of the therapy with FSH in infertile oligozoospermic subjects, aimed at obtaining a quantitative increase in sperm count. However, the results obtained so far are still controversial. In this article, the literature is reviewed and the authors' experience on using FSH treatment in oligozoospermic subjects is discussed.
