Study on human spermatozoal motility: preliminary report on newly developed multiple exposure photography method

We have developed a multiple exposure photography (MEP) method for objectively evaluating the spermatozoal motility. The semen specimen placed in a 10-microns chamber was photographed through the phase-contrast microscope. Light pulses were generated with the aid of a multipulser using a xenon stroboscope (pulse interval: 160 msec., exposure: 1 sec.). In the photomicrographs, motile spermatozoa produced images of six-ringed chains, while nonmotile spermatozoa appeared as brighter images which clearly visualized spermatozoa from the head to the tail. When 30 semen specimens from fertile males were analyzed 1 hour after their collection, the mean spermatozoal concentration was found to be 79 x 10(6) per ml the mean rate of motile spermatozoa 39.7% and the mean spermatozoal velocity 29.3 microns per sec. The rate of motile spermatozoa estimated by the MEP method (39.7%) was lower than that estimated by the direct observation method (60% or more) by ca. 20%. The MEP method enables concurrent accurate estimation of the spermatozoal concentration, the rate of motile spermatozoa and the velocity of individual spermatozoa.