Objective evaluation of the morphology of human epididymal sperm heads

Spermatozoa were obtained from nine epididymal regions of six epididymides taken from five men undergoing castration for prostatic carcinoma (53-76 ye ars) and from one man with testicular cancer (38 years). Spermatozoa were o btained by mincing tissue in phosphate-buffered saline, making air dried sm ears and staining with Hemacolor. The percentage of sperm heads categorised subjectively as normal (of uniform shape) or otherwise was calculated for each region. This confirmed that grossly swollen sperm heads (previously sh own to be artefacts) were only present in proximal regions of the duct. A c omputer-aided sperm morphology analyser (Sperm Class Analyzer(R)) was used to provide objective measurements of sperm head area, perimeter, length and width of the uniform sperm heads and revealed that there was a gradual and statistically significant decline in sperm head size upon maturation, as o ccurs in other species. There was no significant difference between the mor phometric parameters of spermatozoa obtained from the distal cauda epididym is and those obtained from the ejaculates of young normozoospermic patients .