Ying Li-Juan, Yu Lin, Yang Tingting, Wu Ying-Bi, Xu Jin-Yan, Jia Ye-Lin, Zheng Yan, Li Fuping
Department of Andrology/Sichuan Human Sperm Bank, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University; Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, No. 1416, Section 1, Chenglong Avenue, Sichuan, 610066, Chengdu, China.
Basic Clin Androl. 2022 Aug 26;32(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s12610-022-00170-y.
Previous studies have reported that some patients with headless spermatozoa have poor semen quality, but there has been no published systematic analysis of semen quality in patients with different proportions of headless spermatozoa in semen. We aimed to explore the association of acephalic spermatozoa syndrome and semen quality in men with distinct proportions of headless spermatozoa.
Semen parameter values in patients for whom headless spermatozoa were found in the ejaculates was studied and compared to that of 413 age-matched prenatal examination patients. All semen samples were analyzed following the same methodology in a single laboratory.
All semen parameter values except semen volume were negatively (P < 0.05) correlated with the proportion of headless spermatozoa. The semen samples were divided into four groups on the basis of the proportion of headless spermatozoa (PHS) as follows: 0 < PHS ≤ 5% (n = 172, Group A1); 5 < PHS ≤ 10% (n = 76, Group A2); 10 < PHS ≤ 20% (n = 71, Group B); and PHS > 20% (n = 71, Group C). In Group A1, only one semen parameter value (progressive motility) was lower than those of the control group, but in Group A2, this increased to five (sperm vitality, normal sperm morphology, sperm motility, VCL (curvilinear velocity) and ALH (amplitude of lateral head displacement)). Worse still, all semen parameter values were significantly lower in Group B and Group C than in the control group (P < 0.05).
Semen samples containing headless spermatozoa tend to have lower quality than samples without headless spermatozoa. Increases in the proportion of headless spermatozoa in semen are associated with decreased semen quality. We suggest that headless spermatozoa should be seriously assessed and accurately counted in semen analysis, especially for ejaculate in which the proportion of headless spermatozoa exceeds 5%.
既往研究报道，一些无头精子症患者精液质量较差，但对于精液中无头精子比例不同的患者，尚未有已发表的精液质量系统分析。我们旨在探讨不同无头精子比例男性中无头精子症综合征与精液质量的关联。
研究在射精中发现无头精子的患者的精液参数值，并与413名年龄匹配的产前检查患者的精液参数值进行比较。所有精液样本均在单个实验室按照相同方法进行分析。
除精液量外，所有精液参数值均与无头精子比例呈负相关（P < 0.05）。根据无头精子比例（PHS）将精液样本分为四组，如下：0 < PHS ≤ 5%（n = 172，A1组）；5 < PHS ≤ 10%（n = 76，A2组）；10 < PHS ≤ 20%（n = 71，B组）；PHS > 20%（n = 71，C组）。在A1组中，只有一个精液参数值（前向运动率）低于对照组，但在A2组中，这一数量增加到五个（精子活力、正常精子形态、精子运动率、曲线速度（VCL）和头部侧摆幅度（ALH））。更糟糕的是，B组和C组的所有精液参数值均显著低于对照组（P < 0.05）。
含有无头精子的精液样本质量往往低于不含无头精子的样本。精液中无头精子比例的增加与精液质量下降有关。我们建议，在精液分析中应认真评估并准确计数无头精子，尤其是对于无头精子比例超过5%的射精样本。
