Biochemical and Genetic Investigation of Round-headed Spermatozoa in Infertile Men Including Two Brothers and Their Father

Acrosin and the outer acrosomal membrane (OAM) were studied in the spermatozoa of 9 infertile patients who differed in the number of round-headed spermatozoa between 14 and 71% in their ejaculates. These sperm components were also investigated in two infertile brothers who exhibited exclusively round-headed spermatozoa in their ejaculates, and in their fertile father. It turned out that round-headed spermatozoa lack both acrosin and the OAM as studied by indirect immunofluorescent and immunoperoxidase staining technique, gelatinolysis tests and by acrosin activity measurements. The normally shaped spermatozoa of 6 of the 9 infertile patients were found to be positive for acrosin and the OAM as expected, but in the remaining three patients even these spermatozoa were abnormal; in one patient they were unstainable for acrosin and in two patients they were unstainable both for acrosin and the OAM. These results have been confirmed by studies with the gelatinolysis test. The father of the two brothers with exclusively acrosomeless spermatozoa had more than 94% of normally shaped spermatozoa. However, only 10% of these spermatozoa were acrosin positive and only 30% were positive for the OAM. On the basis of these results we postulate that the mode of inheritance of the round-headed spermatozoa syndrome is polygenic rather than monogenic as suggested by previous authors.