Mycoplasma genitalium can bind to human spermatozoa and thus could be carried by motile sperm. This ability may be important in the process of causing female genital diseases and infertility.

No abstract

No abstract

MPV are ubiquitous and distinct from cytoplasmic droplets. They respond to osmolality changes of the surrounding medium. The presence of an MPV can reduce motility but not survival in cervical mucus. Therefore, they should not be considered detrimental to sperm function.

Sperm motion analysis was performed using computer-aided semen analysis (CASA) on nine normozoospermic human ejaculates following six fractionation schemes that included Percoll discontinuous gradient centrifugation, swim-up, hyper and hypo-osmotic stress in which 4600-13 400 tracks were analysed (depending on the scheme). In addition, the effect of ageing for 2 h in seminal plasma or re-addition of seminal plasma, on the kinematic properties was investigated. Analysis following sorting of the swimming velocity at 5 microm/sec intervals revealed the presence of two discrete normally distributed subpopulations selected on the basis of path velocity (VAP): these subpopulations were also present in the track speed (VCL) and progressive velocity (VSL) distributions. The validity of the two subpopulations was examined using a two-component normal mixture model and found to be highly statistically significant (p < 0.00001). The basis for the subpopulations was independent from the possession of midpiece vesicles or hyperactivation. Swim-up produced subpopulations of sperm that were significantly different from those obtained by Percoll separation. Compared with sperm in seminal plasma, swim-up and Percoll separation significantly increased the level of hyperactivated sperm at 2 h. Hyperactivation was inhibited by the re-addition of seminal plasma. Swim-up enhanced the proportion of sperm in the fast VAP subpopulation (independently of the level of hyperactivation) and whilst this altered distribution was maintained following the addition of homologous seminal plasma the mean velocity of the fast fraction was significantly decreased. Both swim-up and Percoll separation significantly increased the mean velocity of the fast subpopulation but the increase was greater with swim-up. This analysis highlights a way in which subpopulations may be detected and analysed. The procedure revealed fundamental differences in the kinematic properties of sperm processed by different methods that are used in assisted reproductive technology and showed that these were independent of hyperactivation.

No abstract

Using X-ray microscopy two morphologically distinct states were observed of the human spermatozoan mitochondria: (i) compact and tightly wrapped around the axoneme, and (ii) morphologically transformed, i.e. with circular areas of high X-ray transmission, either loosely wrapped around the axoneme or distended. The spermatozoa were examined at two stages of their post-ejaculation maturation process, i.e. as present in fresh ejaculated semen and after in-vitro capacitation. X-ray microscopy allowed sample preparation that was as simple as for conventional light microscopy whilst giving high resolution (30 nm) imaging of samples in liquid media compatible with the requirements of live biological specimens. The specimens were not fixed, stained or metal coated. These features make X-ray microscopy useful in the study of cells, particularly cells in suspension. The relative frequencies of the two morphological states of the mitochondria in seminal plasma and after in-vitro capacitation were compared. In seminal plasma, almost all spermatozoa had compact and tightly wrapped mitochondria. After harvesting by swim-up technique, an increase in the morphologically transformed state had occurred. However, the greatest increase in the morphologically transformed state occurred when the sample had been incubated under capacitating conditions. In this case almost all spermatozoa had morphologically transformed mitochondria.

SummaryX-ray microscopy (XRM) is the only microscopy technique that can provide high-resolution (30 nm) imaging of biological specimens without the need to fix, stain or section them. We aim to determine the effect, if any, of glutaraldehyde fixation on algae cells from the XRM perspective and thus provide beneficial information for both X-ray and electron microscopists on artefacts induced by glutaraldehyde fixation. Three species of microalgae, Microcystis aeruginosa , Anabaena spiroides and Chlorella vulgaris , were used in this study. XRM images were obtained from unfixed and glutaraldehyde-fixed cells and cell diameter and percentage X-ray absorbency were measured. The mean diameter of cells from fixed preparations was smaller than from unfixed preparations; the mean diameter of M. aeruginosa cells was significantly reduced from 3.92 µ m in unfixed cells to 3.43 µ m in fixed cells ( P < 0.05); in C. vulgaris the diameter of cells was also significantly reduced from 3.50 µ m in unfixed to 2.98 µ m in fixed samples ( P < 0.05); whereas there was no significant reduction in the diameter of A. spiroides cells (4.04-3.90 µ m). The protein crosslinking mechanism of glutaraldehyde probably generated free water molecules, which play an important role in radiation damage induced by X-rays. This was seen as mass loss and cell shrinkage, which in the present study occurred more frequently in fixed cells than in unfixed cells. In addition, we demonstrated that the uptake of glutaraldehyde by cells makes all protein constituents in the cell organize into a closely packed configuration, thus causing a rise in the percentage of X-ray absorbency. In fixed cells, this rise was approximately by a factor of two compared with unfixed samples in which protein constituents inside the cell are arranged in their native form.