STUDY QUESTION Is the presence of nuclear vacuoles really a negative parameter? SUMMARY ANSWER As sperm vacuoles are associated with acrosomal and capacitation status, they appear to be a reflection of normal sperm physiology. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY The selection of sperm under a high magnification has been proposed as a strategy to increase the success rates of ICSI, through a better select...

Motile sperm organelle morphology examination (MSOME) involves the use of differential interference contrast microscopy (also called Nomarski contrast) at high magnification (at least 6300x) to improve the observation of live human spermatozoa. In fact, this technique evidences sperm head vacuoles that are not necessarily seen at lower magnifications - particularly if the vacuoles are small (i....

The human sperm head vacuoles and their role in male infertility are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical and ultrastructural features of human sperm head vacuoles in men included in the in vitro fertilization programme: men with normal (normozoospermia) and impaired sperm morphology (teratozoospermia). The sperm samples were observed under 6000-time magni...

BACKGROUND The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the hyaluronic acid (HA) binding assay in the selection of motile spermatozoa with normal morphology at high magnification (8400x). METHODS A total of 16592 prepared spermatozoa were selected and classified into two groups: Group I, spermatozoa which presented their head attached to an HA substance (HA-bound sperm), and Group II, ...

background: recently, motile sperm organelle morphology examination (msome) criteria as a new real time tool for evaluation of spermatozoa in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (icsi) cycles has been considered. objective: the aim was to investigate the predictive value of msome in in vitro fertilization (ivf) in comparison to icsi cycles and evaluation of the association between msome parameters...

BACKGROUND Spermatozoa with large vacuoles (SLV) may have a negative impact on embryo development. The origin of these vacuoles is unknown. We evaluated acrosome and nucleus alterations in isolated SLV, versus unselected spermatozoa. METHODS We studied 20 patients with teratozoospermia. Spermatozoa from the native semen sample and spermatozoa presenting a vacuole occupying >13.0% total head a...

BACKGROUND To verify whether or not microinjection of sperm with a normal nuclear shape but large vacuoles affects IVF-ICSI pregnancy outcome. METHODS A comparative study testing IVF outcome parameters of IVF-ICSI, based on morphological selection of spermatozoa with normal nuclei against those based on microinjection of sperm with a normal nuclear shape but large vacuoles. An experimental gr...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the influence of age on sperm quality, as analysed by motile sperm organelle morphology examination (MSOME). METHODS Semen samples were collected from 975 men undergoing evaluation or treatment for infertility. Sperm cells were evaluated at 8400× magnification using an inverted microscope equipped with Nomarski (differential interference contrast) op...