Infertility

This kind of information can be very valuable in cases of fertility with advanced maternal age, where every month of potential fertility counts for the couple.” Paul Turek Turek also noted that the sperm analysis technique developed in the study “might be able to delineate whether men with no sperm in the ejaculate have blockage or not” and avoid unnecessary diagnostic surgery.

Results from the study are reported in the January 2006 issue of Journal of Urology, published by the American Urological Association.

Researchers used a noninvasive technique to measure cell division and cell turnover in sperm after study participants ingested enriched “heavy water,” a type of water with twice the mass of ordinary hydrogen.

Over the course of three weeks, a total of 11 healthy adult males in the study ingested heavy water.

Semen samples were collected every two weeks for up to 90 days.

DNA sperm cell samples were labeled and quantified, enabling researchers to determine the percentage...

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