Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on March 10, 2005
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/deh792
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1 Charité--Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Klinik für Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe-Reproduktionsmedizin, Schumannstr. 20/21, 10117 Berlin, Germany
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. A young couple proceeded to three ICSI treatment cycles because of male infertility. The semen samples varied between 10 x 106 and 36 x 106/ml, 38 and 51% progressive motility but 0% normal morphology. Different types of sperm heads, mostly round-headed with varying spherical appearance (86%) were presented beside acephalic sperm (pinheads; 12%), both one- or two-tailed and the former also without a tail. Very few sperm (2%) exhibited slightly oval-shaped heads. Electron microscopy revealed the absence of the acrosome combined with disturbance of the chromatin condensation among the round-headed sperm. In all three cycles, the fertilization rate using the round-headed sperm fraction was very low with the best result of 2/18 (11%) two-pronucleate oocytes and one one-pronucleate oocyte obtained in the second ICSI cycle. The three oocytes cleaved and were transferred in the 3-4-cell stage without achieving a pregnancy. Of the 29 unfertilized and prepared oocytes from the last two cycles, 27 were informative and revealed the maternal metaphase II chromosomes in the haploid range and a high rate (85%) of premature chromosome condensation (PCC) of the sperm nucleus with remarkable variation in the degree of condensation. Thus, it appears that nearly all round-headed sperm from this patient were incapable of oocyte activation after ICSI, which could be due to non-release (or absence) of an activating factor. As a consequence, PCC was induced in the sperm nuclei by the chromosome condensing factors which were still active in the oopasm of the arrested oocytes.
Received December 3, 2004
Revised January 10, 2005
Accepted January 17, 2005
Article
High rate of premature chromosome condensation in human oocytes following microinjection with round-headed sperm: Case report
2 Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Abteilung für Andrologie, Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Hardi Schmiady, E-mail: hardi.schmiady{at}charite.de
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