A quick, reliable staining technique for human sperm morphology

TLDR: A routine stain used for determining differential count of leucocytes (Diff-Quik stain) was evaluated against the standard Papanicolaou stain, finding no significant differences when comparing the two staining methods.

Abstract: The evaluation of sperm morphology is still an important parameter in the diagnosis of the infertile male. Most techniques used for staining human sperm are very time-consuming. A routine stain used for determining differential count of leucocytes (Diff-Quik stain) was evaluated against the standard Papanicolaou stain. Morphology results from 20 duplicate semen smears using both staining methods were determined separately by 2 technicians using a blind protocol. No significant differences were observed when comparing the two staining methods (paired Student's t-test). The advantages of the Diff-Quik stain are: a) complete staining-to-reading time under 7 min, b) commercially prepared reagents, and c) case of staining procedure.