The functional anatomy of the human spermatozoon: relating ultrastructure and function
Abstract
The Internet, magazine articles, and even biomedical journal articles, are full of cartoons of spermatozoa that bear minimal resemblance to real spermatozoa, especially human spermatozoa, and this had led to many misconceptions about what spermatozoa look like and how they are constituted. This review summarizes the historical and current state of knowledge of mammalian sperm ultrastructure, with particular emphasis on and relevance to human spermatozoa, combining information obtained from a variety of electron microscopic (EM) techniques. Available information on the composition and configuration of the various ultrastructural components of the spermatozoon has been related to their mechanistic purpose and roles in the primary aspects of sperm function and fertilization: motility, hyperactivation, capacitation, the acrosome reaction and sperm-oocyte fusion.
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Even sperm with normal morphology can still exhibit other problems in function.
“Moreover, even sperm with normal morphology can still exhibit other problems in function (22).”
From Isolated teratozoospermia: revisiting its relevance in male infertility: a narrative review (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
Cites
Purcell, E. M. (1977) · American Journal of Physics · doi:10.1119/1.10903 · Cited by 4,360 · see citing works
The evaluation of morphological characteristics of human spermatozoa according to stricter criteria
Menkveld, R., Stander, F. S. H., Kotze, T. J. V., Kruger, T. F., & Zyl, J. A. V. (1990) · Human Reproduction · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.humrep.a137150 · Cited by 677 · see citing works
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Isolated teratozoospermia: revisiting its relevance in male infertility: a narrative review
Atmoko, W., Savira, M., Shah, R., Chung, E., & Agarwal, A. (2024) · Translational Andrology and Urology · doi:10.21037/tau-23-397 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“Spermatozoa are shaped as polarized cells with a head, a connecting midpiece, and a tail or flagellum (22).”
van den Hoven, L., van Vrouwerff, N. J., Dijkstra, I. M., Weeteling, J., Brinkman, J. W., Eliveld, J., & Wetzels, A. M. M. (2025) · Andrology · doi:10.1111/andr.13684 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mortimer, D.
- Affiliations
- Oozoa Biomedical Inc., Box 93012 Caulfeild Village, West Vancouver, BC, Canada V7W 3G4
- Corresponding author
- Mortimer, David
- ORCID
- Mortimer, David
- Venue
- MHR: Basic science of reproductive medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-09-12
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 567-592
- ISSN
- 1360-9947 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2407
- OpenAlex
- W2890763910
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 5.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (am)
- Locations
- Molecular Human Reproduction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Sperm and Testicular Function
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Biology and Fertility
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Physiology › Reproductive biology and impacts on aquatic species
- Keywords
- sperm ultrastructure, sperm function, sperm motility, sperm hyperactivation, sperm capacitation, acrosome reaction, sperm-oocyte fusion, fertilisation (biology)
- MeSH terms
- Acrosome, Fertilization, Humans, Male, Models, Anatomic, Sperm Capacitation, Sperm Motility, Spermatozoa
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