[Disintegration of human spermatozoa in flow cytometry of semen]

In some cases, the pretreatment of human spermatozoa produced desintegration of various degrees, while in others a reduced staining was observed. For the evaluation of these phenomena the following techniques were applied: papain/DTE solution at pH 5.5 and 6.4, pepsin solution and a staining procedure without any preceeding decondensation of the spermatozoa nuclei. Pathological spermatozoa from patients with severe disorders of spermatogenesis showed an extended resistance to the pretreatment procedures, the spermatozoa being stained after papain/DTE pretreatment at pH 5.5 only. Contrary to this finding, normal spermatozoa and spermatozoa with slight morphological aberrations desintegrated when papain/DTE solutions were used. In this group the abortion rate was high.