Work

Epididymal storage at abdominal temperature reduces the time required for capacitation of hamster spermatozoa

Year: 1991

Type: article

Abstract: The epididymis was reflected unilaterally or bilaterally to the abdomen in adult hamsters, leaving normally functioning testes in the scrotum. In unilateral cases, spermatozoa taken from the abdominal cauda, 1 month or more post-operatively, underwent a reversal of head agglutination and dispersed earlier, and underwent hyperactivation and fertilized cumulus-free eggs about 30-45 min sooner than did spermatozoa from the contralateral scrotal cauda. In addition, spermatozoa from the abdominal cauda began to undergo a spontaneous acrosome reaction 30-45 min earlier and to a greater extent than in control spermatozoa. Finally, in females mated at or soon after ovulation, spermatozoa ejaculated by bilaterally cryptepididymal males fertilized eggs 30-45 min before those from normal males. Other females mated to bilaterally cryptepididymal males gave birth to normal litters. The results are considered in terms of the possibility that temperature-sensitive sperm-binding macromolecules, which may be involved in sperm storage in the cauda epididymis, could be one determinant of the need for capacitation.

Source: Reproduction

DOI: 10.1530/jrf.0.0910403

Authors: J. M. Bedford, R. Yanagimachi

Institutions: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, University of Hawaii System, Cornell University

Language: English

Topic: Sperm and Testicular Function

Subfield: Reproductive Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: G5192142844, ANALYSIS OF FERTILIZATION MECHANISMS IN MAMMALS