‘9 + 0’ Axoneme in spermatozoa and some nasal cilia of a patient with totally immotile spermatozoa associated with thickened sheath and short midpiece

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A patient is described with 100% immotile spermatozoa. The sperm cells lack the central pair of microtubules or the complete axoneme. This defect is associated with a thickened fibrous sheath and a shortened midpiece containing defective mitochondria. Fifteen per cent of the nasal cilia of this patient lack the central pair of microtubules. Eighteen similar cases have been described in the literature suggesting that this association of ultrastructural defects may be considered a syndrome.