Influence of sperm plasma membrane destruction on human sperm head decondensation and pronuclear formation

This study investigated the ability of membrane-damaged sperm to undergo sperm head decondensation and male pronuclear forrmation following intracytoplasmic sperm injection. For induction of membrane-damage, sperm were exposed to 0.1% Triton X-100 for a few seconds. The single sperm curling (SSC) test was performed to evaluate the viability of the sperm. Of the injected oocytes 49 and 47% developed male pronuclei in the experimental and control groups, respectively. Sperm head decondensation was much higher in the membrane-damaged group (84 versus 70%). This study clearly shows that ICSI of membrane-damaged sperm does not affect pronuclear formation, although sperm head decondensation is much higher.