The clinical application of electron microscopy and the heterologous ova penetration test to the assessment of spermatozoa from infertile men.
Ultrastructural studies of spermatozoa from men whose spermatozoa repeatedly had shown poor motility demonstrated an increase in morphological abnormalities. This was considered significant in the 8 men in whom all of the spermatozoa were abnornmal and probably significant in those where more than 90% were abnormal (9 men). Spermatozoa from 15 fertile men adhered to and penetrated 60% of hamster oocytes, whereas those from infertile men, with both normal and poor semen quality, failed to adhere or penetrate. The heterologous sperm penetration test offers a new approach to the assessment of semen quality in infertile men.
D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000648:ultrastructure*