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Fine structure of spermatozoa in a patient with a total asthenospermia

INTRODUCTION Male infertility is often caused by a poor quality of the semen (1). Sometimes the number of spermatozoa is extremely low (oligospermia) and their motility is impaired (oligoasthenospermia). In a number of cases, the spermatozoa concentration is normal, but the cells bear complex structural anomalies (teratospermia). In the most severe cases, there is a combination of the factors mentioned above (teratoasthenospermia) (2). AIM Herein, we present the case of 34 years old patient with a total asthenospermia. A married couple contacted an andrologist a year ago because of infertility problems. Female infertility factors have been excluded. However, several ejaculate analysis presented extremely poor motility of spermatozoa. In average, 98% of sperms were immotile and 82% were polymorphic, as recorded by the computer- aided semen analysis. The purpose of the ultrastructural analysis of the patient's semen was to establish if there were some anomalies of the spermatozoa structure at the electron microscopy level. MATERIALS & METHODS In order to perform the electron microscopic analysis, the ejaculate of the patient (min. 3 days of abstinence, cca. 2.6 ml) was fixed in a 4% glutaraldehyde (in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer), postfixed in a 1% OsO4, centrifuged several times, dehydrated and embedded in Durcopan. Semithin and ultrathin sections have been made by the Reichert ultramicrotome. Ultrathin sections were placed on copper grids, contrasted and examined by the Carl Zeiss 902A electron microscope. RESULTS Majority of the analysed spermatozoa had normal structure of the head. Only in few cells the chromatin of the nucleus was poorly condensed and the acrosome was abnormal. The ultrastructural analysis of the tail pointed out the following anomalies: 1. abnormal position of mitochondria (mitochondria located in a group aside the tail, non spiralised mitochondria along the tail) ; 2. abnormal arrangement of microtubules (one pair of microtubule doublets had additional microtubule) ; 3. impartial lack of radial spokes CONCLUSION Ultrastructural analysis of semen sample could provide useful information on the morphology of the sperms. However, the electron microscopic examination of the semen should be done in strictly selected cases.

spermatozoa ; asthenospermia ; EM

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