Monday, June 10, 2013

Pregnancy in a man with Globozoospermia

Saiprasad Gundeti, Senior Embryologist

Here's a case study of a very challenging patient we treated recently. This man was diagnosed with globozoospermia with normal sperm count and motility.

Repeated semen analyses showed 100 % sperms with absent acrosome.


ROUND HEAD SPERM (GLOBOZOOSPERMIC SPERM)


He had had an earlier ICSI treatment cycle in another clinic which had failed. Unfortunately, no treatment details were available, as the medical details of the treatment performed had not been well documented.

The principal cause of fertilization failure after human ICSI ( in a good lab) is a deficiency in the oocyte activation mechanism. Oocyte activation typically occurs immediately following sperm-oocyte fusion and the master key to initiate these changes in fertilized oocytes is a calcium influx into the oocyte. The sperm factor phospholipase C zeta (PLCz) ,which is normally found in the acrosome, is considered to be the agent responsible for these calcium oscillations. If this is absent ( as in men with globozoospermia), then assisted oocyte activation needs to achieved by alternative means, such as by using a calcium ionophore ( as described below).

Read more at http://www.drmalpani.com/globozoospermia.htm

No comments:

Post a Comment