ABSTRACT
Human sperm are a heterogeneous population, particularly with respect to their morphology, motility, and degree of nuclear maturity. The characteristics of human sperm and the degree of nuclear condensation with variable sexual abstinence times (long, 7 days; short, 12 h) have been studied. Long abstinence led to an increase in the number of sperm and a decrease in their motility, but their morphology remained unchanged. The DNA-protein complex demonstrated by ethidium bromide uptake was unchanged, but there was a significant increase in nuclear stability upon treatment with SDS. The duration of abstinence hardly affected the degree of nuclear condensation or stability of human sperm. The heterogeneity observed is essentially of testicular origin.
PIP: Spermatogenesis is a constant process; however, periods of abstinence do affect the number of sperm stored in the tail of the epididymis and the vas deferens as well as the percentage of stable nuclei. Volunteers either abstained for a short period of 1 ejaculation/day or a longer period of 1 ejaculation/7 days. Longer periods of abstinence showed an increase in sperm volume, concentration, and total count, as well as decreased sperm motility. Sperm morphology, however, showed no change. Longer abstinence also produces an increase in the percentage of stable nuclei, as shown when 50 mcl sperm was combined in solutions of 0.5 ml 1% sodium dodecyl sulphate and the same solution with 0.5 ml 1% ethidium bromide. Finally, shorter periods of abstinence were not shown to increase homogeneity of sperm populations, the composition of which is determined by testicular origin.
