THE INCIDENCE OF MORPHOLOGICAL ABNORMALITIES OF SPERMATOZOA IN SEMEN OF INFERTILE MEN AND SOME CAUSES OF VARIATIONS

(A CASE STUDY OF ZARIA. NORTHERN NIGERIA)

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Department of Medicine

ABSTRACT
This project consists of two studies (Study I and Study II). Study I (Methodological study) was used to study the effect of preparation, fixation in buffered formal saline. Storage at +40C for one month and staining techniques on sperm morphological abnormalities. Semen from 150 men in Zaria, were wet fixed in buffered formal saline and examined with phase contrast microscope. Semen smears stained with Eosin-nigrosin and carbol fuchsin (William Stain) were also examined using light microscope. The same ejaculates were stored for a month at +4°c after fixation in buffered formal saline and the above examination repeated. There was no significant difference in the means of most of the sperm morphological abnormalities obtained using the three methods of examination. Also, there was no significant difference in the means of the sperm morphological abnormalities before and after storage at -+ 40C for one month. However, there was increase in the mean values of detached sperm heads in the stained smears and higher mean values of proximal cytoplasmic droplets for fixed semen examined with phase contrast microscopy. This study indicates that a combination of phase contrast microscopy and examination of stained smears using light microscopy is ideal for obtaining the most reliable results in sperm morphological abnormalities evaluation of human semen. The study also demonstrated that buffered formal saline is a good fixative for human sperm. vi Study II was carried out to establish values for different sperm morphologic characteristics in semen of adult men in Zaria, and to determine the possible influence of some factors such as age, diseases, social habits such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption and season on sperm morphology. The Medical history and physical examination including examination of the genitalia of 150 men followed by semen collection was done between January to December 1995. The color, volume and density of each ejaculate were noted. Also the presence of any abnormality such as blood, pus etc if any was noted. Thereafter, sperm morphological studies for different abnormalities were done using fresh semen fixed in buffered formal saline and examination by the phase contrast microscope for abnormalities of acrosome, midpiece and sperm tail, while semen smears prepared from the fresh semen were stained using Williams (carbol fuchsin) and eosin-nigrosin stains and examined with the light microscope for abnormalities of sperm heads. The meteorological data for Zaria for the year 1995 was used to study the influence of season on human sperm morphology. Detached normal head, detached abnormal head, midpiece abnormalities and total sperm morphologic abnormalities had significantly higher means (P<0.05) during the dry/hot partly harmattan season as compared to the rainy season. The means obtained for proximal cytoplasmic droplets, distal cytoplasmic droplets, sperm tail abnormalities and head abnormalities were higher during the rainy season than in the other two seasons. The total sperm morphological abnormalities in the study groups was found to be 43.69% which is clearly above the 25% suggested in fertile men. Age and cigarette smoking was found not to affect sperm morphological abnormalities. Midpiece and sperm tail abnormalities were significantly higher (P<0.05) in the group with past or present sexually transmissible disease (STD) than the group without STD. Higher mean values for sperm morphological abnormalities evaluation in subjects with genital abnormalities such as cryptorchidism, varicocele and hydrocele were also obtained. The total sperm morphological abnormalities in these groups were significantly higher than values obtained in fertile men without genital abnormalities. From study II, it is concluded that season of the year, alcohol consumption, infection with sexually transmissible diseases and genital abnormalities such as bilateral undescended testes, varicocele and hydrocele have adverse effect on human sperm morphology.