'Round head' sperm defect. Ultrastructural and meiotic segregation study.

The sperm 'round head' defect, also known as globozoospermia, is an uncommon alteration of sperm morphology generally characterised by 100% round headed sperm totally lacking an acrosome. This alteration is a genetic sperm defect as demonstrated by analysing the incidence of these alterations in a population of infertile men showing a history of consanguinity and cases belonging to the same family. Ultrastructural characteristics and meiotic segregation in spermatozoa from two patients affected by 'round head' sperm defect were investigated.

Necrosis in human spermatozoa. II. Ultrastructural features and FISH study in semen from patients with recovered uro-genital infections.

Inflammation of the male genital tract is a potential cause of male sterility. The quality of spermatozoa from ten patients with recovered uro-genital infections was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM); fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed on sperm nuclei in six our of ten patients to investigate the frequency of aneuploidies. TEM analysis demonstrated the presence of a high percentage of necrosis in all patients, whereas apoptosis was present in only five of them.

Necrosis in human spermatozoa. I. Ultrastructural features and FISH study in semen from patients with uro-genital infections.

Ultrastructural characteristics and meiotic segregation in spermatozoa from twelve patients affected by uro-genital bacterial infections were investigated. The sperm quality was examined by light and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was performed in eight out of twelve individuals in order to investigate the meiotic behaviour of chromosomes namely gonosomes and chromosome 18. TEM analysis highlighted a severely altered sperm morphology, typical of apoptosis and in particular, necrosis.