title: Morphological characteristics of spermatozoa before and after renal transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the changes of the spermatozoa ultrastructures before and after renal transplantation in uremic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sperm of five uremic patients before and after transplantation and four healthy volunteers were collected and examined by scanning electron microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Abnormal spermatozoa were found in patients pre-transplantation; abnormalities included deletion of the acrosome, absence of the postacrosomal and postnuclear ring, dumbbell-like changes of the head, tail curling, and absence of the mitochondrial sheath in the mid-segment. After renal transplantation, most of the spermatozoa became normal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are many abnormalities with regard to the appearance and structure of the head, acrosome, mitochondria and tail of the spermatozoa in uremic patients. The majority of the spermatozoa returned to normal after renal transplantation, but a few still presented some abnormalities possibly relating to the administration of immunosuppressants.
authors.affiliation: Renal Transplantation Center, 117th Hospital of PLA, Hangzhou 310013, China. xulonggen@sina.com.cn
authors.forename: Long-Gen
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shi-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Xiao-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Xiao-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hui-Ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qi-Zhe
authors.initials: QZ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Xing-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zong-Fu
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Jun-Rong
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D013077:Sperm Head / Q000473:pathology; D013082:Sperm Tail / Q000473:pathology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure