1110 



SUBMAMMALIAN VERTEBRATES 



age. Experiments with sperm subjected to 

 x-ray irradiation have yielded results par- 

 alleling those obtained with stale sperm. 

 Kosin (1944) established that embryonic 

 mortality after fertilization with irradiated 

 sperm occurred mostly during the first 4 or 

 5 days of incubation. This time of maximal 

 mortality is the same as found by Nalban- 

 dov and Card (1943a) for aged sperm. Not 

 enough data are available in the papers of 

 Kosin (1944) and Dharmarajan (1950) to 

 compare the kinds of abnormalities found. 

 The effect of fertilization by sperm stored 

 in vitro on embryonic development has not 

 been studied extensively, largely because of 

 the lack of fertility obtained with stored 

 semen. Wilcox and Shorb (1958) were able 

 to obtain good fertility with semen stored 

 26.5 hours. No effect on embryonic mor- 

 tality was observed. Lake, Schindler and 

 Wilcox (1959), in experiments which in- 

 volved storing rooster semen for 37 to 38 

 hours, found a decrease in hatchability of 

 fertile eggs and a statistical analysis of their 



TABLE 18.3 

 Comparison of the composition of Imll (ttid 



rooster seminal plasma 

 All values expressed as mg. per 100 ml. 



Na. 

 K.. 

 Ca. 

 Mg. 

 B . 



Cu 



Zn 



CI 



Glucose 



Fructose 



Lactic acid 



Total phosphorus. 



Glutamate 



Nonprotein N . . . . 

 Freezing point . . . 



Rooster Ref. 



378-428 



39-49 



6.9-9.3 



8.4 



0.145 

 0.18 

 197-212 

 41 

 4 

 



890-1340 

 142.8 

 0.64 



References: 



1. Sarkar, Luecke and Duncan, 1947. 



2. Mann, 1954. 



3. Schindler, Weinstein, Moses and Gabriel, 

 1955. 



4. Cragle, Salisbury and Muntz, 1958. 



5. Cragle, Salisbury and VanDemark, 1958. 



6. Lake, Butler, McCallum and Maclntyre, 1958. 



7. Lake and Mclndoe, 1959. 



8. Personal observations, 1959. 



data by me showed that storage of tlie 

 semen resulted in increased embryonic mor- 

 tality {p < 0.01). (In the analysis all the 

 data were pooled for stored semen and for 

 fresh semen.) Moravec, Mussehl and Pace 

 ( 1954) observed a sharp increase in embry- 

 onic mortality after insemination of turkeys 

 with semen stored 24, 48, and 72 hours. The 

 data from these two experiments are not 

 conclusive, but there is an indication that 

 aging of fowl semen in vitro may have the 

 same effects as aging in vivo. Nalbandov 

 ( 1958) has stated, without presenting the 

 evidence, that such was the case. 



£. In Vitro 



The long functional survival of the avian 

 sperm in vivo stands in sharp contrast to 

 the low fertility obtained after storage of 

 fowl and turkey spermatozoa in vitro. 

 jMammalian sperm, on the other hand, have 

 been stored in vitro with relatively little 

 loss in fertilizing capacity. It seems, there- 

 fore, fruitful to compare the various meta- 

 bolic and physiologic characteristics of 

 avian and mammalian sperm. A detailed 

 review of the composition of cock semen 

 and the metabolic behavior of fowl and 

 turkey sperm in vitro has been published 

 recently (Lorenz, 1959). Some observations 

 made in our laboratory will be added here 

 and a comparison of some aspects of the 

 l^hysiology of avian and mammalian sperm 

 will be made. Bovine semen and rooster 

 semen have been selected as representa- 

 tives of the mammalian and avian classes. 

 The selection was largely based on the 

 amount of data available on the sperm 

 physiology of these species. From Table 

 18.3 a comparison can be made of the dif- 

 ferences in composition of the seminal 

 plasma. One of the most striking differences 

 is in the glutamate content. In vitro studies 

 in our laboratory showed that dilution of 

 semen with seminal plasma or Tyrode solu- 

 tion, 1 part semen to 4 parts diluent, did 

 not affect respiration rate (van Tienhoven, 

 1960). However, it was noted that storage 

 of avian semen in Tyrode solution decreased 

 respiration rate and rate of fructolysis, and 

 increased abnormal sperm (El Zayat and 

 van Tienhoven, 1959). These effects were 

 found to be caused by chloride ions, for the 



