Ultrastructural morphometry of the human sperm flagellum with a stereological analysis of the lengths of the dense fibres

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Abstract
The dimensions of the various regions of the flagellum and the length of each of the dense fibers was determined by transmission electron microscopy of a large number of spermatozoa from 10 men. The overall mean length of the flagellum was 60.5 .mu.m, and its diameter diminished from 0.88 .mu.m in the midpiece to 0.17 .mu.m at the terminal filament. The midpiece and terminal filament as measured in longitudinal sections had variable lengths among spermatozoa (3.4 .+-. 0.5 (SD) and 3.1 .+-. 1.0 .mu.m, respectively). Stereological analysis was used to estimate the length of the principal piece (53 .mu.m) and the dense fibers. These latter fibers were of unequal length and extended along 60% of the length of the principal piece. They fell into 3 groups with respect to their lengths: fiber 3 and 8 were short (6 .mu.m); fiber 4, 2 and 7 were of medium length (17, 18 and 21 .mu.m, respectively); and the longest fibers were 5, 6, 9 (31, 32 and 31 .mu.m, respectively) and fiber 1 which was a little longer (35 .mu.m). Although there was variation in the length of the various fibers among spermatozoa, the order of their termination was relatively constant. The relationship between these quantitative data regarding the structural characteristics of the dense fiber and the shape of the flagellar wave is discussed.

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