Abstract
So far, all known studies of human meiosis have been performed on germinal cells obtained from testicular biopsies1,2. As this involves a surgical procedure to obtain the material, we wish to draw attention to the statement, first made by Michael and Joel3, that immature germ cells can regularly be seen in the seminal fluid of the human male. We have found that in smear preparations of the ejaculate of subjects with a normal sperm count, nearly 3% of the cells consist of spermatogonia, spermatocytes and spermatids (Table 1), the maximum percentage being 5%. A similar result was obtained by Heinke and Doepfmer4. As the sperm count decreases, however, the percentage of immature cells generally increases and, in some pathogenic cases, the percentage may be 40% or more5. We have characterized the cells in material in which a high percentage of the cells were immature as a preliminary to cytogenetic studies of human male meiosis.
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SPERLING, K., KADEN, R. Meiotic Studies of the Ejaculated Seminal Fluid of Humans with Normal Sperm Count and Oligospermia. Nature 232, 481 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/232481a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/232481a0
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