Abstract

AbstractA description is given of some fine structural features of mature spermatozoa from the bush baby (Galago senegalensis), the African green monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) and man, with additional comments on sperm from the slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) and the crab‐eating macaque (Macaca irus). The arrangement of the sperm organelles in these primates is similar to that demonstrated in the sperm of other mammals, but notable species differences do occur. The bush baby spermatozoon, for instance, displays a complex system of membranes which envelop the neck and anterior midpiece. The human spermatozoon, unlike that of many other mammals, has no subacrosomal space or “perforatorium.” This structure is quite prominent, however, in lorisoid and macaque spermatozoa, and it is shown in the bush baby that its electron‐dense material extends posteriorly from the apex of the head in the space between the inner acrosome and nuclear membranes. In electron microscope preparations of anthropoid spermatozoa, the cell membrane which overlies the acrosome cap only occasionally displays the swollen distorted form seen commonly here in the spermatozoa of prosimiae, and previously in various other mammals.In contrast to the uniform spermatozoa obtained from the lorisoid and macaque monkeys, a significant proportion of spermatozoa in the human samples examined showed many abnormal features including misshapen sperm nuclei, cystic formations in the rostral region of the acrosome cap, and irregular alignment of mitochondria in the neck and midpiece.

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