Human fertilization by micro-injection of immotile spermatozoa

Abstract

Microfertilization of human oocytes with spermatozoa from a man with immotile cilia syndrome is reported, confirming a preliminary investigation where a zona-free donor oocyte was fertilized with spermatozoa from the same patient. Oocytes from his spouse were obtained by laparoscopy after routine stimulation with clomiphene citrate, human menopausal and chorionic gonadotrophins, and were cultured for 4-6 h in Whittingham's T6 medium, supplemented with 10% of her serum. The spermatozoa were washed and processed in the same medium and capacitated for 6-8 h before micromanipulation. Three of five mature oocytes were fertilized by micro-injection of a single immotile spermatozoon into the perivitelline space. One oocyte produced a two-pronuclear ovum assessed 19 h after injection, while the other two produced 2-cell embryos with blastomeres of equal size, 22 h after injection. These embryos cleaved to 3-8-cell stages in culture before embryo replacement. No pregnancy resulted from embryo transfer. The results conclusively demonstrate that human oocytes can be fertilized successfully with immotile spermatozoa by micro-injection and the work has profound implications in the treatment of severe male infertility.

Successful twin birth following blastocyst culture of embryos derived from the immotile ejaculated spermatozoa from a patient with primary ciliary dyskinesia: A case report

“…For a single KS patient SUZI produced a healthy pregnancy whereas ICSI did not [6]. Other successful fertilizations from immotile sperm via sub-zonal insemination have been obtained as well [4,28] without subsequent pregnancies. The Terriou et al report indicated two sets of triplet pregnancies but these were from patients that had 5% non-progressive motility in the semen samples [28].…”

“…Successful treatment of PCD with the birth of healthy babies following embryo transfer on day three or earlier has been reported using sub-zonal insemination (SUZI) [4][5][6] and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test [14] was used in conjunction with ICSI of immotile spermatozoa with success in several cases as well [15][16][17].…”

Genes and Male Infertility: What Can Go Wrong?

“…In these patients, fertility is impaired through sperm motility. However, since spermatogenesis is not affected, ICSI or in vitro fertilization can still be used to achieve a pregnancy (Bongso et al, 1989), with unknown consequences for the generated offspring.…”

Current Status and Future of Micromanipulation-Assisted Fertilization in Animals and Human.

“…This specific technique of SUZI evolved from animal studies that demonstrated that fertilization and development to birth of healthy live young [3] was possible. Fertilization of human oocytes [24][25][26] and human pregnancies [4] and live births [27] stimulated an increase in the clinical use of this procedure for patients who had failed to achieve fertilization in vitro and for patients with too few (or only immotile) spermatozoa to even attempt in vitro fertilization [28,29]. Pavasuthipaisit et al [30] compared fertilization and embryo development in cattle after SUZI and ICSI, and obtained a higher fertilization with ICSI, although the embryonic development to the hatched blastocyst stage was similar in both groups.…”