Resumo

RODRIGUEZ PENDAS, Bertha Victoria et al. Morphological alterations of human spermatozoa detected by scanning electron microscopy. Rev Cubana Endocrinol [online]. 2013, vol.24, n.2, pp. 153-160. ISSN 1561-2953.

Introduction: morphological alterations of human spermatozoa are a common cause of infertility. Many abnormalities in certain cases are not observed in the morphological studies conducted in the routine spermograms based on the conventional optic microscopy; therefore, it is necessary to resort to alternative techniques that visualize morphological details with more precision. Objective: to identify morphological spermatozoa abnormalities through scanning electron microscopy in patients who were treated in the infertility service and whose spermatozoa had been morphologically reported as normal in the optic microscopy exam. Methods: one hundred forty semen samples taken from men aged 20 to 40 years, who were treated at the infertility service of the National Institute of Endocrinology. According to WHO criteria, the collected samples after masturbation were subjected to spermograms and those spermatozoa from the samples with 30 % or over of their morphology being normal, according to the optic microscopy results, were selected for the scanning electron microscopy study. Results: of the 140 study samples, 119 were found morphologically normal in the optical miscroscopy. Out of the latter, 79 (66.4 %) were found to have morphological alterations in the scanning electron microscopy results, and 40 (33.6 %) were not. Predominant spermatic alterations were short and coiled tails, folded middle piece, big amorphous and elongated heads with some changes in their acrosomal structure as well as pointy-head spermatozoa. Both mixed and isolated tail alterations appeared in 47 (59.4 %) of the 79 samples. Conclusions: through the scanning electron microscopy, it was possible to identify morphological anomalies in the spermatozoa from men who went to the infertility service. These spermatozoa had been reported as morphologically normal in the optical microscopy exam.

Palavras-chave : spermatozoa; spermatic morphology; male infertility; scanning electron microscopy.

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