Objective: To explore the fertilizing ability, cleavage potential and inheritance risks of globozoospermia.
Methods: A globozoospermic patient was diagnosed by sperm morphological staining and transmission electron microscope. From his wife the investigators obtained 26 oocytes in which 6 oocytes were donated and the other 19 (in 20) MII oocytes injected into 19 round-headed sperms. Six donated oocytes accepted in vitro fertilization (IVF). This patient's chromosome and microdeletion in AZFa, AZFb and AZFc in Y chromosome were checked through 6 sequence tag sites of sY84, sY86, sY127, sY134, sY254 and sY255.
Results: Only 4 (in 19) were normally fertilized and cleaved. All 6 donated oocytes were normally fertilized and cleaved. The fertilizing rate was significantly higher than that of this patient (100% vs 21.1%, P < 0.01). But the cleavage rate has no statistical difference (100% vs 100%, P > 0.05). This patient had normal chromosome (46, XY) and there was no deletion in Y chromosome. His wife became pregnant after accepting two thawed embryos and then gave birth to a boy whose chromosome was normal (46, XY). The acceptor also gave birth to a healthy boy after accepting two thawed embryos.
Conclusions: Despite a lower fertilizing rate, intracytoplasmic sperm injection is still an effective therapy for globozoospermic infertility.