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. 2015 Jul;13(7):425-32.

Large nuclear vacuoles in spermatozoa negatively affect pregnancy rate in IVF cycles

Shahin Ghazali  1 , Ali Reza Talebi  1 , Mohammad Ali Khalili  1 , Abbas Aflatoonian  1 , Navid Esfandiari  2
Affiliations

Large nuclear vacuoles in spermatozoa negatively affect pregnancy rate in IVF cycles

Shahin Ghazali et al. Iran J Reprod Med. 2015 Jul.

Abstract

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 and traditional sperm parameters in both groups.

Materials and methods: This is a cross sectional prospective analysis of MSOME parameters in IVF (n=31) and ICSI cycles (n=35). MSOME parameters were also evaluated as the presence of vacuole (none, small, medium, large or mix); head size (normal, small or large); cytoplasmic droplet; head shape and acrosome normality. In sub-analysis, MSOME parameters were compared between two groups with successful or failed clinical pregnancy in each group.

Results: In IVF group, the rate of large nuclear vacuole showed significant increase in failed as compared to successful pregnancies (13.81±9.7vs7.38±4.4, respectively, p=0.045) while MSOME parameters were the same between successful and failed pregnancies in ICSI group. Moreover, a negative correlation was noticed between LNV and sperm shape normalcy. In ICSI group, a negative correlation was established between cytoplasmic droplet and sperm shape normalcy. In addition, there was a positive correlation between sperm shape normalcy and non-vacuolated spermatozoa.

Conclusion: The high rate of large nuclear vacuoles in sperm used in IVF cycles with failed pregnancies confirms that MSOME, is a helpful tool for fine sperm morphology assessment, and its application may enhance the assisted reproduction technology success rates.

Keywords: ICSI; IVF; MSOME; Pregnancy rate; Sperm head vacuole.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Spermatozoa at high magnification (6600×).a and b: spermatozoa with large nuclear vacuole (≥15% of head area), c: spermatozoon with medium nuclear vacuole (4≥ <15% of head area), d: non-vacuole spermatozoon
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spermatozoa at high magnification (6600×). The arrows the spermatozoa with mix vacuoles (having more than two vacuoles).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Spermatozoa at high magnification (6600×).a and b: spermatozoa with cytoplasmic droplet, c: spermatozoa having no cytoplasmic droplet
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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