Decapitated and decaudated spermatozoa in man, and pathogenesis based on the ultrastructure

The ultrastructure of decapitated tails and decaudated heads of ejaculated spermatozoa from an infertile man were investigated. The decaudated heads had the nucleus and acrosome, but neither the implantation fossa nor the basal plate were observed at the caudal pole of the nucleus. The nuclear membrane at this portion showed numerous nuclear pores. The decapitated tails contained the proximal centriole at the proximal end. In addition, most decapitated tails had segmented columns, outer coarse fibres, axoneme, mitochondrial sheath and fibrous sheath in the normal position. The ultrastructure reflects the high motility of the decapitated tails of the spermatozoa. Drastic abnormalities were found in the developing spermatids in the biopsied testes. In spermatids later than the Golgi phase, the pair of centrioles were floating in the cytoplasm of the spermatid, but the distal centriole elongated the flagellum. Neither the implantation fossa nor the basal plate were observed at the caudal pole of the nucleus. It is concluded that the tail might be separated from the head before or after completion of tail formation in spermatids. The explanation for why the proximal centriole failed to connect to the nucleus is unknown.