Ureaplasmas Urealyticum and Human Infertility: Effect on Spermatozoa Morphology

Abstract

Seminal fluids of 197 males with complaints of involuntary infertility were examined for spermatozoal counts, morphological changes in the spermatozoa and cultured for ureaplasmas and mycoplasmas. In 12, no spermatozoa were present, 29 had a count of less than one million and 156 had more than one million spermatozoa per mL of the seminal fluid. Various morphological changes were detected in the spermatozoa in some cases. U urealyticum and M hominis were grown in 43.15% and 16.75% in comparison to control figures of 15.9% and 11.4% respectively. There was no correlation between growth of ureaplasmas and the spermatozoal count. Among the morphological changes, presence of coiled tails, presence of a fuzzy coat around the tail and microcolonies were highly specific for culture positivity (98.2, 98.2 and 9735% respectively) but of low sensitivity (55.2%,14.1% and 8.2% respectively). MJAFI 1999; 55 : 193-196

The semen microbiome and its impact on sperm function and male fertility: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Thirty‐five studies used PCR or culture to isolate specific bacteria, namely Chlamydia trachomatis , Ureaplasma spp. and Mycoplasma spp 9,19,51,52,55,60‐89 . The PCR technique identified C trachomatis in 15 studies with reported prevalence of between 0.3% and 43.3% in infertile men, which is in contrast to the culture technique where this species was not identified in any of the studies (0/20).…”

Understanding Male Factor in Infertility

“…These microbes have been isolated from seminal fluid and known to cause infertility in some cases. Morphological changes due to the spermatozoa infection are coiling of tail and a fuzzy coat around the tail and these have been well demonstrated by Debata et al [5], with specificity rate of 98.2% in culture positive cases. Their identification and treatment has shown positive effect on semen quality [6,7].…”

Unraveling the Intricacies of the Seminal Microbiome and Its Impact on Human Fertility

“…In general, the lipopolysaccharide contained in the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria (like Bacteroidia , Sphingobacteria , Proteobacteria , or Alphaproteobacteria ) are suspected to disrupt sperm motility [ 28 ]. Low rates of normal morphology in sperm have been observed in samples with the abundance of Staphylococcus aureus , Ureaplasma urealyiticum , HCMV, and human polyomavirus 2 (JCPyV) [ 34 , 76 , 83 , 84 , 85 ], and low sperm counts have been associated with the presence of Staphylococcus , Haemophilus , Klebsiella , Chlamydia trachomatis , and ZIKV [ 25 , 32 , 56 , 74 , 76 , 82 ]. Patients with azoospermia have shown more abundance of Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma [ 27 ], as well as an increase in Bacteroidetes , Firmicutes [ 86 ], Proteobacteria , and Actinobacteria [ 87 ].…”

“… The main genera that have been described as potentially associated with high quality ( up ) and low quality ( down ) seminal parameters [ 13 , 21 , 22 , 29 , 32 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 83 ]. …”

“…The first and most traditional studies of seminal bacteria in the 1990s were based on the culture of seminal samples in agar plates with selective media in order to grow aerobe and anaerobe colonies that were later identified by subculturing, colony morphology analysis, enzymatic testing, etc. By this method, it was frequent to identify genus like Ureaplasma , Mycoplasma , Escherichia , Corynebacterium , Gardnerella , Chlamydia , Staphylococcus , Streptococcus , Peptococcus , Lactobacillus , Enterobacter , Klebsiella , Haemophilus , Morganella , or Citrobacter [ 8 , 19 , 23 , 58 , 83 ]. Nowadays, culture approaches constitute a basic technique still in use that is usually combined with PCR or qPCR.…”