- Mohammad Hossein Nasr-Esfahani
 - 1- Embryology Department, Royan Research Center, Isfahan, Iran
- 2- Isfahan Fertility and Infertility Center, Isfahan, Iran
- Shahnaz Razavi
- - Anatomy Department, Faculty of Medicine, Isfahan Medical Sciences University, Isfahan, Iran
- Gholam Hossein Vaezi
- - Biology Department,Islamic Azad University,Damghan Branch , Damghan, Iran
- Abdolhossein Shiravi
- - Biology Department,Islamic Azad University,Damghan Branch , Damghan, Iran
- Marzieh Tavalaee
- - Embryology Department, Royan Research Center, Isfahan, Iran
Received: 10/1/2006 Accepted: 10/1/2006 - Publisher : Avicenna Research Institute |
| Related Articles |
|
| Other Format |
|
|
|
Abstract
Introduction: Fertilization failures after ICSI may be due to different factors related to oocyte, sperm or both of them. Considering the importance of sperm morphology, acrosomal activity in oocyte activation and fertilization rates, this study was done to evaluate the relationship between a series of events occurring during spermiogenesis such as sperm morphology and acrosomal activity as an index for acrosomal integrity and the relationship between sperm ability to induce oocyte activation with fertilization rates following ICSI.Materials & Methods: Semen samples from 68 infertile couples undergoing ICSI at Isfahan Fertility and Infertility Center were assessed. Some of each semen sample was analyzed for semen parameters according to WHO criteria, most of it was used for ICSI and the rest for Papanicolaou staining and gelatinolysis test to evaluate sperm morphology based on the strict criteria and acrosin activity respectively. The results were analyzed by SPSS software (Version 11.5) and correlation coefficient was determined. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results: Results from gelatinolysis showed that the mean halo diameter had a significant positive correlation with sperm concentration (r=0.343, p=0.004), motility (r=0.282, p=0.020), sperm morphology according to the WHO criteria (r=-0.314, p=0.009), fertilization rate (r=0.270, p=0.026) and the percentage of halo formation (r=0.853, p=0.001). Conclusion: The results of the study revealed that during ICSI, spermatozoa with small acrosome, which are likely to have reduced gelatinolysis test parameters (Smaller percentages of halos and smaller mean halo diameters), have lower fertilizing potential. As gelatinolysis test is considered as an index for acrosomal and perinuclear theca integrity, lower fertilizing ability in these spermatozoa could be likely due to their reduced levels of sperm associated oocyte activating factors (SAOAFs). Therefore, studies for the identification and measurement of SAOAF levels in these kinds of spermatozoa are proposed.
Keywords:
Acrosin activity, ICSI, Fertilization, Oocyte activation, Sperm morphology To cite this article:References
- Dozortsev D, De Sutter P, Rybouchkin A, Dhont M. Timing of sperm and oocyte nuclear progression after intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Hum Reprod. 1995; 10:3012-7 [PubMed]
- Ozil JP, Huneau D. Activation of rabbit oocyte: The impact of the ca2+ signal regime on development. Development.2001;128:917-928 [PubMed]
- Williams CJ. Signaling mechanisms of mammalian oocyte activation .Hum Reprod Update.2002;8(4):313-321 [PubMed]
- Zhang J, Wang CW, Blaszcyzk A, James A. Electrical activation and in vitro development of human oocytes that fail to fertilize after intracytoplasmic sperm inject-tion. Fertil Steril.1999;72 (3):509-512 [PubMed]
- Yamano S, Koji N, Toshihoro A. Fertilization failure and oocyte activation. J Med Inves.2000;47:1-8 [PubMed]
- Rybouchkin AV, Sutter PD, Straeten FV, Dhont M. Fertilization and pregnancy after assisted oocyte acti-vation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection in a case of round headed sperm associated with deficient oocyte activation capacity. Fertil Steril.1997;68(6):1144-7 [PubMed]
- Escalier D. Failure of differentiation of the nuclear-perinuclear skeletal complex in the round-headed human spermatozoa. Int J Dev Biol. 1990;34:287-97 [PubMed]
- Courtot AM. Presence and localization of the 60 KD calicin in human spermatozoa presenting postacro-somal sheath defects: preliminary results. Mol Reprod Dev. 1991;28:272-9 [PubMed]
- Tesarik J, Sousa M, Testart J. Human oocyte activation after intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Hum Reprod. 1994;9:511-8 [PubMed]
- Takeuchi T, Colombero LT, Neri QV, Rosenwaks Z, Palermo GD. Does ICSI Require acrosomal disruption? An ultrastructural study. Hum Reprod. 2004;19(1):114-7 [PubMed]
- Menkveld R, Rhemrev JP, Franken DR, Vermeiden JP. Acrosomal morphology as a novel criterion for male fertility diagnosis: relation with acrosin activity, morphology (strict criteria), and fertilization in vitro. Fertil Steril. 1996;65:637-44 [PubMed]
- El-Ghobashy AA, Christopher R. The human sperm head: A key for successful fertilization. J Androl. 2003; 24:232-38 [PubMed]
- Menkveld R, Stander FSH, Kruger TF. Comparison between acrosome index and Teratozoospermia index as additional criteria to sperm morphology in the pre-diction of expected in vitro fertilization outcome. Hum Reprod. 1998;13:52
- Soderlund B, Lundin K. Acrosome index is not an absolute predictor of the outcome following conven-tional in-vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2001;18:483-89 [PubMed]
- World Health Organization. WHO Laboratory Manual for the Examination of Human Semen and Semen-Cervical Mucus Interaction. Cambridge, United King-dom: Cambridge University Press. 1999
- Szczygiel M, Kurpisz M. Teratozoospermia and its effect on male fertility potential. Andrologia. 1999;31: 63-75 [PubMed]
- Henkel R, Muller C, Miska W, Schill WB, Kleinstein J, Gips H. Acrosin activity of human spermatozoa by means of a simple gelatinolytic technique: a method useful for IVF.J Androl. 1995; 16(3):272-7 [PubMed]
- Kruger TF, Menkveld R, Stander FS, Lombard CJ, Van der Merwe JP, van Zyl JA, et al. Sperm morphologic features as a prognostic factor in in vitro fertilization. Fertil Steril. 1986;46:1118-23 [PubMed]
- De Vos A, De Velde HV, Joris H, Verheyen G, Dev-roey P, Van Steirteghem A. Influence of individual sperm morphology on fertilization, embryo morpho-logy,and pregnancy outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Fertil Steril. 2003;79 (1):42-48 [PubMed]
- Tesarik J, Testart J. Treatment of sperm-injected human oocytes with Ca2+ ionophore supports the development of Ca2+ oscillations.Biol Reprod. 1994; 51:385-91 [PubMed]
- Liu DY, Baker HW. Relationships between human sperm acrosin, acrosome, morphology and fertilization in vitro.Hum Reprod. 1990;5:298-303 [PubMed]
- Menkveld R, El-Garem Y, Schill WB, Henkel R. Relationship between human sperm morphology and acrosomal function. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2003;20: 432-8 [PubMed]
- Razavi S, Nasr-Esfahani MH, Mardani M, Mafi A., Moghdam A. Effect of human sperm chromatin ano-malies on fertilization outcome post-ICSI. Andrologia. 2003;35:238-43 [PubMed]
- Nasr-Esfahani MH, Salehi M, Razavi S, Mardani M, Bahramian H, Steger K, Oreizi F. Effect of protamine-2 deficiency on ICSI outcome. Reprod Biomed Online. 2004b;9:652-8 [PubMed]
- Longo FJ, Krohne G, Franke WW. Basic proteins of the perinuclear theca of mammalian spermatozoa and spermatids: a novel class of cytoskeletal elements. J Cell Biol. 1987;105:1105-20 [PubMed]
- Tesarik J. Molecular mechanisms of fertilization: the re-opening of the search for oscilin. Contracept Fertil. 1998;6(26):693-5 [PubMed]
- Welker B, Bernstein GS, Diedrich K, Nakamura RM, Krebs D. Acrosomal proteinase activity of human spermatozoa and relation of results to semen quality. Hum Reprod. 1988;2:75-80 [PubMed]
- Lalonde L, Langlais J, Antaki P, Chapdelaine A, Roberts KD, Bleau G. Male infertility associated with round-headed acrosomeless spermatozoa.Fertil Steril. 1988;49:316-21 [PubMed]
- Bartoov B, Berkovitz A, Eltes F, Kogosowski A, Menezo Y, Barak Y. Real-time fine morphology of motile human sperm cell is associated with IVF-ICSI outcome. J Androl. 2002;23:1-8 [PubMed]