Headless spermatozoa in semen specimens from fertile and subfertile men

Objective: To investigate the frequency of headless, or unnucleated, sperma tozoa, determine its percentage and evaluate its possible correlation with other semen parameters. Study design: Semen specimens from 94 subfertile men, aged 24-53 years (mea n +/- SD 33.3 +/-6.3) and from 52 fertile men, aged 24-44 (33.3 +/-4.1) wer e studied. Two semen specimens were examined from each individual, with a s ix- to eight-week interval. Sperm morphology was evaluated from Papanicolao u-stained smears, and the classification of abnormal sperm forms was made a ccording to the guidelines of the World Health Organization. Results: The percentage of headless spermatozoa was 9.0%+/-8.8 in subfertil e and 2.7%+/-3.1 in fertile men. Headless spermatozoa existed in semen spec imens from 90% of subfertile and 70% of fertile men. Of subfertile men, 23. 4% had headless spermatozoa at a higher percentage than the highest normal limit found in sperm smears from fertile men. Conclusion: In some cases of subfertile men with a high percentage of headl ess spermatozoa, their infertility can be attributed to the cause of this m orphological abnormality. Moreover, tails but not heads were found in semen specimens from subfertile and fertile men.