“Mutant Sperm Prevent Couple from Life of Happiness with Children.” It sounds like the advertisement for the latest Hollywood blockbuster (after all, they do seem to be running out of ideas.) However, the truth of the matter is that a certain portion of infertility issues that are due to a male factor do have to do with mutant sperm.

There are a few different ways that sperm factors into fertility. One of the ways, and the one you probably hear most about, is “sperm count.”T hat has to do with the number of sperm in a man’s semen. A second factor is “sperm motility,” which refers to the ability of the sperm to move through the body to its destination.

The third area – and the one that would make the best movie tagline – is sperm morphology. Morphology has to do with the shape of the sperm. If a sperm has an abnormal shape, it can’t penetrate the egg, fertilize it, and create an embryo.

Now, most sperm are oddly shaped. The vast majority of sperm, in fact, are not shaped so as to be able to penetrate an egg. Ideally, for a man to have the best chances of conception, his morphology should be at about 14 percent. This means that 14 percent of his sperm should be shaped normally.

This number changes over time. There was a time when experts thought that morphology should be at around 30 percent, almost twice today’s numbers. Some studies suggest that the average morphology is between two and six percent, which means that most men don’t hit that 14 percent number.

Other fertility experts suggest that around 5 percent of sperm should be normally shaped to maximize chances of conception.

The bottom line is that there really may be a misunderstanding in the fertility community about what makes a “normal” shaped sperm. It’s not likely that only two percent of all sperm created would be shaped correctly, and more and more research is being done in this area as time goes on.

If you’re being treated for male infertility, you can expect that sperm morphology will be one of the areas you discuss with your health care provider.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 and is filed under Fertility.