Globozoospermia revisited
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 28 September 2006
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Human Reproduction Update
- Vol. 13 (1), 63-75
- https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dml047
Abstract
Globozoospermia is a rare (incidence <0.1%) but severe disorder in male infertility. Total globozoospermia is diagnosed by the presence of 100% round-headed spermatozoa lacking an acrosome. It is still unclear whether patients whose ejaculate contains both normal and globozoospermic cells (partial globozoospermia) suffer from a variation of the same syndrome. Apart from the fact that affected males suffer from reduced fertility or even infertility, no other physical characteristics can be associated with the syndrome. ICSI is a treatment option for these patients, although low fertilization rates after ICSI show a reduced ability to activate the oocyte. In globozoospermic cells, the use of acrosome markers has demonstrated an absent or severely malformed acrosome. Chromatin compaction appears to be disturbed but is not consistently over- or undercondensed. In some cases, an increased number of cells with DNA fragmentation have been observed. The analysis of the cytogenetic composition revealed an increased aneuploidy rate in some cases. Nonetheless, no increased number of spontaneous abortions or congenital defects has been reported in pregnancies conceived after ICSI. The pathogenesis of globozoospermia most probably originates in spermiogenesis, more specifically in acrosome formation and sperm head elongation. In several knockout mouse models, a phenotype similar to that in humans was found. Together with the occurrence of affected siblings, these findings indicate a genetic origin, which makes globozoospermia a good candidate for genetic analysis. More research is needed to elucidate the pathogenesis of human globozoospermia to further understand globozoospermia as well as (abnormalities in) spermiogenesis and spermatogenesis in general.Keywords
This publication has 90 references indexed in Scilit:
- Acrosomeless Sperm. A Cause of Primary Male InfertilityAndrologia, 2009
- Morphogenesis of Round-Headed Human Spermatozoa Lacking Acrosomes in a Case of Severe TeratozoospermiaAndrologia, 2009
- On the Teratogenesis of Round-Headed Spermatozoa: Investigations with Antibodies Against Acrosin, an Intraacrosomally Located Acrosin-Inhibitor, and the Outer Acrosomal MembraneAndrologia, 2009
- Identification of Polymorphisms in the Hrb, GOPC, and Csnk2a2 Genes in Two Men With GlobozoospermiaJournal of Andrology, 2006
- Hypoosmotic Swelling: Evaluation of Sperm Tails Using Strict Criteria in Cases of GlobozoospermiaArchives of Andrology, 1993
- Lectin-Binding Sites in Testis of Men with Acrosomeless Round-Headed Spermatozoa/Testikuläre Lektinbindungsstellen bei Männern mit akrosomenlosen RundkopfspermatozoenAndrologia, 1989
- Immunological approach to characterize proacrosin and various acrosin forms in boar and man by monoclonal antibodiesGamete Research, 1987
- Basic proteins of the perinuclear theca of mammalian spermatozoa and spermatids: a novel class of cytoskeletal elements.The Journal of cell biology, 1987
- Absence of acrosome: An efficient tool in mammalian mutation researchMutation research. Reviews in mutation research, 1975