744 



SPERM, OVA, AND PREGNANCY 



Fig. 13.13. Effect of pilocarpine on tubal secre- 

 tory pres.sure: right and left oviducts recorded. A, 

 pilocarpine-HCI (1 mg. in 1 ml. saline, I.M.) in- 

 jected 51/2 hours after catheterization; B, control 

 estrous records. (From D. W. Bishop, Am. J. Phys- 

 iol., 187, 347-352, 1956a.) 



collection of oviduct secretion over a period 

 of many weeks. Their values for secretion 

 rate are somewhat higher than those noted 

 above, for example, 1.29 ml. per 24 hours 

 for the rabbit in estrus. 



Although the present state of knowdedge 

 permits only a fragile evaluation of the sig- 

 nificance of these secretory products on the 

 activity and viability of the gametes and 

 fertilized eggs, tubal secretion can hardly 

 be denied. Further chemical and physical 

 analysis of the components of the fluids 

 might profitably be attempted, not only 

 in the rabbit and cow, but in other mam- 

 mals as well. In the final analysis, the 

 survival and fertilizing capacity of the 

 sperm are functions of the relation between 

 the cell's intrinsic properties and the en- 

 vironment in which it operates. 



H. THE FATE OF NONFERTILIZING 

 SPERMATOZOA 



Relatively soon after insemination, ex- 

 cess sperm have disappeared from the lumen 

 of the genital tract. Within 20 to 24 hours 

 in the mouse and rat, little indication of 

 the sperm mass can be found (Blandau and 

 Odor, 1949; Austin, 1957) . In the sow uterus, 

 a few sperm are present about 50 hours 



after copulation, but none can be found 

 25 hours later (du Mesnil du Buisson and 

 Dauzier, 1955). The general fate of the 

 unsuccessful sperm, recently reviewed by 

 Austin (1957), has long been held to be 

 enzymatic dissolution and phagocytic en- 

 gulfment in the lumen (Konigstein, 1908; 

 Sol)otti, 1920). Except for a brief spate in 

 the Russian literature (Kushner, 1954; Voj- 

 tiskova, 1955), little credence has been 

 given to the many claims of Kohll)rugge 

 ( 1910, 1913) that sperm and sperm products 

 are incorporated into the genital epithelium 

 and have profound effects on the maternal 

 physiology (see Hartman, 1939). Indeed, 

 a subsequent paper by Vojti?kova (1956) 

 and others by Posalaky and colleagues in 

 Prague (1956, 1957a, b) have been quite 

 explicit in stating that the earlier histologic 

 demonstrations of sperm in the epithelial 

 mucosa can be explained on the basis of tech- 

 nical artifacts, principally incurred during 

 the sectioning of tissues. Within the past 

 year or two, however, a number of instances 

 have come to light which make it amply 

 clear that sperm do, under some circum- 

 stances, enter or are conducted into the 

 uterine and tubal mucosa. Sperm in, or in 

 association with, leukocytes have been found 

 in the uterine glands of the guinea pig 

 and in the tubal mucosa of other species, 

 including the rat, rabbit, hedgehog, mole, 

 stoat, mouse, and bat (Austin, 1959, 1960; 

 Austin and Bishop, 1959; Edwards and Sir- 

 lin, 1959). How commonly this occurs and 

 what its significance may be for the sub- 

 sequent reproductive capacity of the female 

 remain to be seen. The findings within seven 

 groups of mammals indicate that the phe- 

 nomenon may be widespread. The associa- 

 tion of the spermatozoa with leukocytic in- 

 filtration further suggests that the genital 

 tract may, under some circumstances, be re- 

 garded as a route of foreign cell invasion. 

 A natural skepticism regarding the ability 

 of spermatozoa to penetrate somatic tissues 

 is somewhat lessened by the realization that 

 the process is a normal feature of reproduc- 

 tion in certain invertebrate animals. Manton 

 (1938) cites records of this among rotifers, 

 turbellarians, leeches, and the bedbug {Ci- 

 mex) ; in Peripatopsis (Onychophora) , the 

 sperm are described as invading the body 



