Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Fertilization Rate Does Not Depend on the Proportion of Round-headed Sperm, Small-acrosomal Sperm, or Morphologically Normal Sperm in Patients with Partial Globozoospermia / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Generally, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) may be the preferable method to treat partial globozoospermia, but whether there exist some correlations between ICSI fertilization rate and the proportion of round-headed sperm or morphologically normal sperm remains open. This study was to explore the correlation between ICSI fertilization rate and the sperm morphology in patients with partial globozoospermia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-four patients diagnosed with partial globozoospermia accepted the following assisted fertilization treatments - 2 cases accepted in-vitro fertilization (IVF) alone, 26 cases accepted ICSI alone, and 6 accepted split IVF/ICSI. Detailed morphological characteristics were described using Diff-Quik rapid staining. Sixty cases accepting IVF or ICSI treatment in our reproductive center were considered as the control group after being matched by relevant criteria. Fertilization rate, embryo quality, embryo implantation rate and clinical pregnancy rate were calculated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Besides very high proportion of round-headed sperm, partial globozoospermia also showed very high proportion of small-acrosomal sperm and very low proportion of morphologically normal sperm. Fertilization rate of IVF (IVF alone plus split IVF) was very low in partial globozoospermia (25.4% ± 17.4%), but ICSI (ICSI alone plus split ICSI) achieved satisfying fertilization rate compared with the control group (66.2% ± 22.5% vs. 68.8% ± 29.4%, P > 0.05). In patients with partial globozoospermia, there were no correlations between ICSI fertilization rate and the proportion of round-headed sperm, small-acrosomal sperm, or morphologically normal sperm.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There was high proportion of small-acrosomal sperm in partial globozoospermia. For patients with partial globozoospermia, ICSI is more preferable than IVF. ICSI fertilization rate does not depend on the proportion of round-headed sperm, small-acrosomal sperm, or morphologically normal sperm.</p>

Calmodulin antagonists are involved in mouse sperm capacitation / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the possible involvement of calmodulin in mouse sperm capacitation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Calmodulin antagonists W7 at the concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 micromol/L and calmidazolium (CZ) at the concentrations of 10, 20 and 30 micromol/ L, were coincubated with mouse sperm for 2 hours, respectively. The percentage of pattern B sperm was measured by chlorotetracycline staining. Then the sperm were coincubated with 100 micromol/L W7 or 10 micromol/L calmidazolium (CZ) before acrosome reaction was induced by 5 micromol/L progesterone and evaluated by the same method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After the treatment of the sperm with different concentrations of CZ or W7, the percentages of pattern B sperm decreased in a dose-dependent manner, significantly different from the control (P < 0.05). There was a statistic difference in the rate of acrosome reaction between the experiment and the control group (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Calmodulin is a key protein involved in mouse sperm capacitation.</p>