QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by HAMMOND, J. Articles by ASDELL, S. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by HAMMOND, J. Articles by ASDELL, S. A.

Journal of Experimental Biology 4,155-185 (1926)
Published by Company of Biologists 1926

The Vitality of the Spermatozoa in the Male and Female Reproductive Tracts

JOHN HAMMOND M.A.¹ and S. A. ASDELL M.A., PH.D.¹

¹ Institute of Animal Nutrition, School of Agriculture, Cambridge

(1) Methods and experiments are described for testing the length of fertility of the sperms in the male and female tracts of rabbits.

(2) The sperms may retain their fertility in the male tract up to 38 days, but in the female tract only up to 30 hours.

(3) In cases where the sperms had remained in the female tract for 24-30 hours before ovulation small litters were frequently produced; it is suggested that this is due to the end point of the vitality of the sperms falling within the limits of time during which the process of ovulation occurs.

(4) The bearing of these results on problems of fertility and sterility is discussed.