Body fluids—Semen Flashcards
4 fractions of semen and what makes them
- pre-ejaculatory secretion; bulbourethral and urethral mucous glands
- sperm; testis and epididymis
- acid phosphatase + proteolytic enzymes; prostate
- fructose; seminal vesicles
65% of ejaculate
30% of ejaculate
seminal vesicle component
prostate component
3 reasons for doing sperm tests
- fertility assessment
- post-vasectomy
- forensics
period of abstinence before semen collection
2-7 days
specimen analysis on semen should start within…
60 mins of collection
if semen cannot be analyzed immediately…
37° water bath
semen takes —– mins to spontaneously liquefy
10-20
normal semen volume
1.5-5.0 mL
effect of high semen volume on fertility
dilutional effect
causes infertility problems
normal semen pH
≥ 7.2
average around 8.4
3 categories of semen viscosity
- nonviscous (normal): pours easily in small drops
- semiviscous: tends to string, still drops
- viscous: does not flow, cannot pipette
3 categories of semen liquefaction
- liquefied: no clumps
- partially coagulated: some clumps
- coagulated: one solid mass
before assessing sperm motility…
warm in 37° bath for 10 min
sperm motility is assessed with a —–μL drop on —x and ———
10
40
phase
3 categories of sperm motility
- progressive
- nonprogressive
- immotile
% motility =
% progressive + % nonprogressive
normal motility
≥40%, and ≥32% should be progressive
performed if sperm motility is <40%
vitality stain
dead sperm stain pink/red
alive sperm remain white
semen agglutination is performed on —–x and graded as…
20
0/absent
1+: <10sperm/clump
2+: 10-50/clump
3+: >50/clump
4+: all sperm clumped
for sperm count, make a —— dilution with ————–
1:20
sterile water
low sperm count
oligospermia
how to count sperm on hemocytometer
count large center square row by row until 200 are counted, then finish row you are on
may use left and right center squares if necessary, but no others
only count sperm with head and tail
modification to sperm count formula
multiply by 1000 to report in cells/mL
units for reporting are ## million/mL
normal sperm count
≥ 15 million/mL
stain used to assess sperm morphology
Papanicolaou stain
light staining top of sperm
acrosome
neck of sperm
mid-piece
cells found in semen
- sperm
- WBCs
- epithelials
- RBCs
- malignant cells
normal sperm normal forms
≥4% (strict criteria)
fructose test performed on ———- samples (no sperm)
azospermic
2 reasons fructose might be absent in sperm
- bilateral aplasia of vas deferens or seminal vesicle
- bilateral obstruction of ejaculatory ducts
methods for determining if a sample is sperm
- microscopic exam
- acid phosphatase ↑↑
