Ultrastructural Morphology of Sperm from Human Globozoospermia

Globozoospermia is a rare disorder characterized by the presence of sperm with round head, lacking acrosome. Coiling tail around the nucleus has been reported since early human studies, but no specific significance has conferred it. By contrast, studies on animal models suggest that coiling tail aro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioMed research international 2015-01, Vol.2015 (2015), p.1-8
Main Authors: Trevisan, Elisa, Martinelli, Monica, Boscolo, Rita, Luppi, Stefania, Zabucchi, Giuliano, Andolfi, Laura, Ricci, Giuseppe, Zweyer, Marina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Ethanol
Health aspects
Humans
Infertility, Male - pathology
Male
Maternal & child health
Morphology
Motility
Pathogenesis
Rodents
Scanning electron microscopy
Sperm
Sperm Tail - ultrastructure
Spermatozoa
Spermatozoa - pathology
Spermatozoa - ultrastructure
Studies
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Summary:Globozoospermia is a rare disorder characterized by the presence of sperm with round head, lacking acrosome. Coiling tail around the nucleus has been reported since early human studies, but no specific significance has conferred it. By contrast, studies on animal models suggest that coiling tail around the nucleus could represent a crucial step of defective spermatogenesis, resulting in round-headed sperm. No observations, so far, support the transfer of this hypothesis to human globozoospermia. The purpose of this work was to compare ultrastructural morphology of human and mouse model globozoospermic sperm. Sperm have been investigated by using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The images that we obtained show significant similarities to those described in GOPC knockout mice, an animal model of globozoospermia. By using this model as reference, we were able to identify the probable steps of the tail coiling process in human globozoospermia. Although we have no evidence that there is the same pathophysiology in man and knocked-out mouse, the similarities between these ultrastructural observations in human and those in the experimental model are very suggestive. This is the first demonstration of the existence of relevant morphological homologies between the tail coiling in animal model and human globozoospermia.
ISSN:2314-6133
2314-6141
DOI:10.1155/2015/798754