Morphological factors influencing the penetration of human sperm into cervical mucus in vitro

Jeulin, C.; Soumah, A; Jouannet, Pierre

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2605.1985.tb00836.x

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…MacLeod and Gold (1951) have already shown that in natural fertilization spermatozoa morphology of infertile men is different from that of fertile men; Jouannet et al (1981) found that morphology is the sperm parameter that makes the best distinction between infertile and fertile populations of men. Jeulin et al (1985) confirmed that the cervical mucus selects the spermatozoa in function of its morphology: spermatozoa with abnormalities in the principal or middle pieces of the tail either isolated or associated with head abnormalities, are stopped by the mucus. Rogers et al (1983) found that the percentage of normal shapes is the sperm factor with the highest correlation with the hamster oocyte fertilization rate.…”

mentioning

confidence: 74%

Sperm Morphology in Fertile Men and Its Age Related Variation

Bujan¹,

Mieusset²,

Mondinat³

et al. 2009

Andrologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The different kinds of abnormalities of spermatozoa and their age related variations are studied in a population of 214 fertile men. Coiled tails (7%), bent tails (5,2%), thin heads (2,6%), microcephalic (2,6%), cytoplasmic droplets (2 5%), irregular heads (2%), macrocephalic (0,9%), duplicated heads (0,7%) and duplicated tails (0,5%) are found in this order.Age is positively correlated with the percentage of microcephalic, macrocephalic and duplicate heads and coiled tails and negatively correlated with the percentage of no tail spermatozoa: these age-related variations are involved in the 90th percentile. Die Morphologie der Spermatozoen bei fruchtbaren Mannern in Abhangigkeit vom Lebensalter

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 74%

Sperm Morphology in Fertile Men and Its Age Related Variation

Bujan¹,

Mieusset²,

Mondinat³

et al. 2009

Andrologia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, this selection is limited and does not exclude all the abnormal forms, in particular spermatozoa with abnormal heads (Ahlgren et al, 1974;Mortimer et al, 1982). In vitro, cervical mucus penetration tests show that some abnormal spermatozoa, such as those with small oval and pyriform heads, can penetrate the mucus as well as normal spermatozoa (Jeulin et al, 1985). The morphology status of human spermatozoa at the fertilization sites in vivo is unclear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphology of spermatozoa bound to the zona pellucida of human oocytes that failed to fertilize in vitro

Liu¹,

Baker²

1992

Reproduction

127

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary. The morphology of spermatozoa bound to the zona pellucida (ZP) of 264 oocytes that had failed to fertilize in 58 in vitro fertilization procedures was studied by light microscopy. The percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology bound to the ZP (mean 77, range 8\p=n-\100) was significantly higher than in the insemination medium (mean 42, range 2\p=n-\80). The abnormal spermatozoa bound to the ZP had small oval (47%), pyriform (46%), amorphous (5%) and tapering (2%) heads. Other abnormalities of morphology were not observed in ZP-bound spermatozoa. The mean rates of binding to the ZP of spermatozoa with normal morphology (44, 95% confidence limits 42\p=n-\46,number bound/ZP/105/ml inseminated) were much higher than for abnormal spermatozoa with small oval 6\m=.\5 (5\ m=. \ 5\ p=n-\ 7\ m=. \ 6), pyriform 5\ m=. \ 9 (4\ m=. \ 8\ p=n-\ 7\ m=. \ 3), amorphous 1\m=.\0 (0\ m=. \ 5\ p=n-\ 2\ m=. \ 0) and tapering 2\m=.\5 (1\ m=. \ 2\ p=n-\ 5\ m=. \ 3) heads. The morphologically abnormal forms not found on the ZP were infrequent in the insemination medium (tail defects, large oval, round, pin and duplicate heads and cytoplasmic droplets) but upper 95% confidence limits for standardized binding ratios of <60% indicated that these were unlikely to bind to the zona with rates approaching those of normal spermatozoa (standardized binding ratio 180%). A large number of uniformly normal spermatozoa bound to the ZP when the percentage normal morphology in the insemination medium was >40%. The proportions of abnormal spermatozoa on the ZP were significantly correlated with the proportions of abnormal spermatozoa in the insemination medium. Spermatozoon head dimensions were measured with a micrometer in samples from 14 patients. While there were no consistent changes in all samples, the means for head width and area were significantly larger and the ratio of the length to width was smaller for spermatozoa on the ZP than for those in the insemination medium. The head length and ratio of length to width of spermatozoa in samples with good morphology were significantly less than in samples with poor morphology. The percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology, motility and the ratio of head length to width in the insemination medium were positively correlated with the percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology bound to the ZP. Logistic regression analysis showed that the diagnosis of tubal infertility and the rate of binding of spermatozoa with normal morphology to the ZP were positively related to fertilization rates in vitro while the rate of binding of spermatozoa with pyriform heads was negatively related. In conclusion, human ZP are highly selective for spermatozoa with normal morphology. The frequency of binding of abnormal spermatozoa to the ZP was mainly dependent on semen quality. Detailed analysis of spermatozoa bound to the ZP should be useful for determining the range of morphology characteristics of spermatozoa with good or poor fertilizing potential.

show abstract

“…However, we may speculate on it. It is known that sperm motility characteristics (15,16), their head shape (17,18), and their acrosomal activity (19) are of major importance in the migration and penetration processes. Therefore, we can assume that normally shaped motile spermatozoa with large nuclear vacuoles will probably be able to pass through the female tract barriers and proceed to fertilize the female egg.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%