Sperm with large nuclear vacuoles and semen quality in the evaluation of male infertility

Figures & data

Figure 1.  High magnification by an inverted microscope equipped with Nomarski differential interference contrast optics and video system. Arrows indicate nuclear vacuoles observed through a 100x (1.40 numerical aperture) objective lens. Dotted lines indicate the width of the sperm head (3.3 µM) and the maximum diameter of a nuclear vacuole (2.5 µM).

Table 1. Background of the patients.

		Number of patients (%)	Number of semen samples (%)
Possible causes of male infertility	Idiopathic	35 (48.6)	66 (46.5)
	Varicocele	27 (37.5)	62 (43.7)
	Hormonal disorder	4 (5.6)	7 (4.9)
	Ejaculation disorder	4 (5.6)	5 (3.5)
	Others	2 (2.7)	2 (1.4)
	Total	72(100)	142 (100)
		Mean ± SD	Min-Max
Age		34.5 ± 4.6	24-46
Conventional semen analysis	Semen volume (mL)	2.9 ± 1.6	0.1-11.0
	Sperm count (x10^6/mL)	39.3 ± 54.9	0.01-262.0
	Sperm motility (%)	25.1 ± 17.8	0-76.0
	Sperm normal morphology (%)	10.3 ± 10.1	0-49.0
	Total sperm count (x10^6)	150.2 ± 200.3	1.8-1047.0
	Motile sperm count (x10^6/mL)	23.7 ± 48.4	0-305.8
	Total motile sperm count (x10^6)	55.1 ± 106.2	0-583.6

SD: standard deviation.

Table 2. Comparison of the % LNV between patients with idiopathic male infertility and varicocele.

	Idiopathic male infertility (n = 59)	Varicocele (n = 53)	T test P value
% LNV	25.8 ± 20.9	31.8 ± 24.5	0.1644
Semen volume [ml]	2.8 ± 1.1	3.0 ± 1.7	0.3042
Sperm count  [×10^6/ml]	57.7 ± 63.4	66.6 ± 77.9	0.5073
Sperm motility [%]	26.9 ± 22.8	23.6 ± 23.0	0.4563
Normal sperm  morphology [%]	11.4 ± 10.1	10.6 ± 10.3	0.6736
Total sperm count  [x10^6]	163.1 ± 196.2	170.0 ± 225.4	0.8634
Motile sperm count  [10^6/mL]	23.8 ± 37.3	24.7 ± 54.4	0.9210
Total motile sperm  count [10^6]	67.8 ± 105.6	51.5 ± 105.0	0.4191

LNV: sperm large nuclear vacuole.

Table 3. Correlation between the % LNV and the parameters of the conventional semen analysis and SMAS.

Variables		ρ	P value (Prob > |ρ|)	Multiple logistic regression (continuous)
				Odds ratio	P value
Age		−0.0914	0.3110	0.9913	0.8772
Conventional semen analysis	Semen volume [ml]	0.0734	0.4161	1.3701	0.0802
	Sperm count [×10^6/ml]	−0.3577	<0.0001^#	0.9800	0.0003^#
	Sperm motility [%]	−0.2368	0.0084^#	0.9766	0.1146
	Normal sperm morphology [%]	−0.1676	0.0639	0.9556	0.1654
	Total sperm count [x10^6]	−0.2944	0.0009^#	n.a.	n.a.
	Motile sperm count [10^6/mL]	−0.2769	0.0019^#	n.a.	n.a.
	Total motile sperm count [10^6]	−0.2419	0.0070^#	n.a.	n.a.
SMAS	Linear velocity [μm/sec]	−0.1302	0.1511	1.2404	0.0511
	Curvilinear velocity [μm/sec]	−0.1683	0.0627	0.9162	0.0274^#
	Linearity [%]	−0.1987	0.0276^#	0.0085	0.2290
	Amplitude of lateral head displacement [μm]	−0.1740	0.0542	36.0029	0.0007^#
	Beat/cross frequency [Hz]	−0.2414	0.0071^#	0.9331	0.5381

LNV: large nuclear vacuole; SMAS: Sperm Motility Analysis System; ρ: Spearman's rank correlation coefficient; ^#: statistically significant; n.a.: not assessed