B Bartoov, F Eltes, M Reichart, J Langzam, H Lederman, N Zabludovsky
The advantages of quantitative ultramorphological (QUM) sperm analysis in the diagnosis and treatment of male infertility are presented. QUM methodology is based on three elements: (1) complementary SEM and TEM observations of 7 sperm cell subcellular organelles: acrosome, postacrosomal lamina, nucleus, neck, axoneme, mitochondrial sheath, and outer dense fibers; (2) systematic classification of the specific ultramorphological malformations into 4 pathological and the normal categories, which indicate the morphological state of each subcellular organelle; and (3) comparison between well-defined reference groups with opposite fertility status or treatment conditions...
May 1999: Archives of Andrology