世界之源的祕密 瞭解男性不孕的真相

According to the Medical Research Council's Reproductive Biology Unit, sperm counts are falling by around three per cent every year, so we spoke to Dr Allan Pacey, male fertility expert from Sheffield University and secretary of the British Fertility Society, to get the lowdown on male fertility.

根據醫療調查委員會的複製的生物樣本，每年精子的數量會下降到大約3%，因此我們採訪了Allan Pacey,來自謝菲爾德大學的男性生殖專家，英國生殖力協會祕書來弄清男性生殖。

Male infertility is mostly caused by men producing too few sperm or sperm that don't work properly (i.e. they don't swim as well as they should, or when they meet an egg they don't fertilise it as they should).

男性不孕大多數是由男人產生太少的精子或精子沒有適當運轉（例如它們沒有像它們應該的那樣遊動，或當它們遇到一個卵巢它們沒有按它們應該做的生殖）導致的。

The main test for male fertility is called 'semen analysis'. This is where a man provides a sample of semen to be examined under the microscope to check the number of sperm and also some aspects of their quality (how well they swim and their size and shape mainly). It is important that the man abstains from sex or masturbation for between two and five days before this test is carried out. It is also important that this is carried out by a proper laboratory used to looking at semen. Based on the tests from semen analysis some men may then have their hormones checked and also some genetic tests performed.

對於男性生殖主要的測試被稱爲“精液分析”。也就是人們提供精液的樣本在顯微鏡下被用來檢查精子的數量和它們質量的一些方面（它們遊動的有多好和它們主要的形狀和類型）。重要的是人們放棄性和手淫2到5天在這項測試實施之前。同樣重要的是，這在被用來照看精液的恰當的實驗室裏實施。然後基於來自精液分析的測試，一些人可能檢驗荷爾蒙，同樣一些基因測試會被執行。

Most of the existing solutions are to try to help the sperm that the man is producing get to the egg in some way. This might include a simple insemination of his partner (IUI), or it may mean in vitro fertilisation (IVF). In more severe cases, individual sperm could be injected into eggs collected from the man's partner. This technique is known as ICSI. If the man is producing no sperm, then normally this means that he will have to consider using the sperm from a donor. Although in some very rare cases if this is because of a hormone production problem, it can sometimes be corrected.

存在的大多數解決方案是試着幫助人們生產的精子在某種程度上獲得卵巢。這可能包括簡單的它的伴侶的授精（促排卵方法),或者它可能意味着試管內受精（體外受精）。更嚴重的案例，個體的精子能夠被注射到收集於人們的夥伴的卵子上。這種技術被稱作試管嬰兒。如果男人產生不了精子，然後正常地他得考慮使用來自捐獻者的精子。雖然在一些罕見的案例中，如果這是因爲荷爾蒙生產問題，有時能被糾正。

There is no evidence that older men produce fewer sperm, but there is evidence that the sperm from older men are of poorer quality. This is evident in two ways. First the partners of older fathers are more likely to have a miscarriage compared to the partners of younger men. There is also evidence that the children of older fathers are more at risk of having some rare genetic diseases. Both of these observations suggest that the DNA of the sperm from older men has been altered or mutated in some way.

沒有證據表明，老年人會產生越來越少的精子，但顯而易見的是，老年人的精子質量很差。兩天前這被證實。首先老父親的配偶對比於青年人更易流產。同樣顯而易見的是老年人的孩子會承擔更多罕見的基因疾病的危險。這些觀察顯示，在某種程度上老年人精子的DNA被改變了或變異了。

Some of the treatments for cancer and similar drugs used to treat arthritic conditions or some kidney disorders can affect sperm counts. This is why some men get offered the opportunity to bank sperm before they start those treatments.

一些對於癌症的治療和用來治關節炎的相似的藥品或腎障礙會影響精子的數量。這就是爲什麼一些人在開始治療之前獲得堆積精子的機會。