Images of Sperm Morphology | Understanding Male Fertility
Fixed and stained human sperm pictures from our IVF lab
- Sperm morphology scoring tells us what percent of the sperm are shaped normally
- Very low morphology scores are associated with male infertility problems
- Most fertility clinics (including ours) use the “Kruger strict morphology” criteria
- Using the strict criteria, a relatively low percentage of sperm will be considered to be normal
- At lease 200 stained sperm are examined with very high magnification to determine if the heads, neck pieces and tails are normal
- The WHO (World Health Organization) now defines normal morphology as having 4% or more normal forms
- Due to variations in scoring criteria and the subjective nature of morphology grading, morphology scores can vary significantly between laboratories (on the same sperm specimen)
- If the sperm count and the motility are normal, a moderately low morphology score might not be indicative of a male fertility problem
Several sperm shown on a morphology slide
Special stains and fixatives are used to prepare sperm for morphology evaluation
Highly magnified human sperm with normal morphology
Human sperm are 55 microns in length – 460 sperms lined up head to tail equals 1 inch
This sperm is morphologically normal – it has a normal shape
Abnormal morphology with tapered head
Another tapered head abnormality
Pinhead sperm
Sperm showing amorphous head
Short tail sperm
Small round sperm head abnormality
Bent neck sperm
Sperm photo – abnormal morphology
Head is too round, abnormal mid-piece
Abnormal head shape – also with cytoplasmic droplets
Unusual situation with very abnormal sperm morphology
Picture shows sperm heads, sperm tails and sperm with very short tails
This man did not have any normal sperm
Picture of human sperm as we see them in a counting chamber (Makler)
This tool is used to determine sperm counts (concentration) and motility percentages