title: Morphology in intracytoplasmic sperm injection: preliminary results.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Direct intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a successful treatment of severe male subfertility. Conventional in vitro fertilization shows poor pregnancy rates especially in cases of severe teratozoospermia. The objective was to determine if severe morphological defects of spermatozoa in oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) have any impact on the fertilization process in ICSI and if there are any specific morphological characteristics in nonfertilized oocytes after the ICSI procedure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ejaculates and nonfertilized oocytes were investigated by electron microscopy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lack of intracytoplasmic sperm-oocyte interaction, not severe sperm defects, displays the most critical role in the fertilization process. Clinical data with fertilization rates of 66% and pregnancy rates of 23.3% confirm the fertilization capacity of severely
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical University Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Küpker
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: al-Hasani
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schulze
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kühnel
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schill
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Felberbaum
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Diedrich
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000502:physiology; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007267:Injections / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions / Q000502:physiology*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure