Asian Journal of Andrology (2005) 7, 81–85; doi:10.1111/j.1008-862X.2005.00002.x
Morphological characteristics of spermatozoa before and after renal transplantation
Long-Gen Xu1, Shi-Fang Shi2, Xiao-Ping Qi1, Xiao-Feng Huang3, Hui-Ming Xu4, Qi-Zhe Song1, Xing-Hong Wang1, Zong-Fu Shao1 and Jun-Rong Zhang4
- 1Renal Transplantation Center, 117th Hospital of PLA, Hangzhou 310013, China
- 2Department of Urology, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, China
- 3Electron Microscope Center, 4th Military Medical University, Xi'an 710000, China
- 4Zhejiang Family Planning Science and Technology Institute, Hangzhou 310006, China
Correspondence: Dr Long-Gen Xu, Renal Transplantation Center, 117th Hospital of PLA, Hangzhou 310013, China. Fax: +86-571-8796-2610. E-mail: xulonggen@sina.com.cn
Received 17 November 2003; Accepted 18 October 2004.
Top of pageAbstract
Aim:
To investigate the changes of the spermatozoa ultrastructures before and after renal transplantation in uremic patients.
Methods:
The sperm of five uremic patients before and after transplantation and four healthy volunteers were collected and examined by scanning electron microscopy.
Results:
Abnormal spermatozoa were found in patients pre-transplantation; abnormalities included deletion of the acrosome, absence of the postacrosomal and postnuclear ring, dumbbell-like changes of the head, tail curling, and absence of the mitochondrial sheath in the midsegment. After renal transplantation, most of the spermatozoa became normal.
Conclusion:
There are many abnormalities with regard to the appearance and structure of the head, acrosome, mitochondria and tail of the spermatozoa in uremic patients. The majority of the spermatozoa returned to normal after renal transplantation, but a few still presented some abnormalities possibly relating to the administration of immunosuppressants.
Keywords:
uremia, renal transplantation, spermatozoa, scanning electron microscopy
Top of pageReferences
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