Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate whether the morphology of the sperm midpiece observed by high magnification microscopy relates to sperm centrosomal function.
Methods
Sperm selected by conventional microscopy were defined as controls. By high magnification microscopy, sperm with straight midpieces were defined as Group 1, while those with tapering midpieces were defined as Group 2. Heterologous ICSI of human sperm into bovine oocytes was used to assess human sperm centrosomal function and analysis of sperm aster formation.
Results
The total rate of sperm aster formation was 80.5% in Group 1, which was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the rate of 33.3% seen for Group 2. Furthermore, sperm aster formation rates tended to be higher for Group 1 than for the controls.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates improvement of sperm aster formation rates by selecting sperm on the basis of midpiece morphology. The injection of selected sperm bearing morphologically straight midpieces may contribute to improved expression of sperm centrosomal function, providing a positive effect on fertilization after ICSI.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to Y.T., and N.Y.
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Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection focused on sperm midpiece was performed, and the difference of sperm aster formation rate on the morphology of sperm midpiece was recognized.
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Ugajin, T., Terada, Y., Hasegawa, H. et al. The shape of the sperm midpiece in intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection relates sperm centrosomal function. J Assist Reprod Genet 27, 75–81 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-009-9371-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-009-9371-1