Meng G D, Zhu J C, Chen Z W, Wong L T, Zhang G Y, Hu Y Z, Ding J H, Wang X H, Qian S Z, Wang C
People's Hospital, Beijing Medical College.
Contraception. 1988 Feb;37(2):119-28. doi: 10.1016/0010-7824(88)90122-9.
Variables in 46 men who had stopped taking gossypol in two centres in China were investigated for their predictive association with the degree and time of recovery of spermatogenesis. Thirty-nine (87%) were azoospermic at cessation of gossypol treatment. In those with sperm present the geometric mean concentration and total sperm count were 8.3 x 10(6)/ml and 30.7 x 10(6), respectively. Twenty-eight (61%) recovered to a defined threshold spermatogenic function (sperm concentration greater than or equal to 20 x 10(6)/ml), with median recovery time 1.1 years. However, 18 men (39%) had not recovered after a median follow-up of 1.9 years and, of these, 10 (22%) remained azoospermic. The failure of recovery was strongly associated with longer treatment, greater total dose of gossypol, smaller testicular volume, elevated FSH concentrations and, to a lesser extent, with greater body weight.
