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Journal of Experimental Biology 9,403-408 (1932)
Published by Company of Biologists 1932

Fertilisation in the Rabbit

G. PINCUS ¹ and E. V. ENZMANN ¹

¹ Laboratory of General Physiology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

The series of events occurring in the Fallopian tubes of rabbit does mated to fertile bucks may be summarised as follows:

The ova liberated from the ovaries and surrounded by the follicle cells become massed together. Sperm penetrate the massed follicle cells, which fall away as the sperm pass through them. At from 1-3 hours after ovulation the spermatozoa reach the egg. A number of spermatozoa pass through the zona pellucida, but only one, apparently, enters the egg. At the time of sperm penetration the egg shrinks slightly but definitely. The second polar body is given off 45 min. or longer after sperm penetration. The pronuclei are formed after the formation of the second polar body and, at the earliest, 3 hours after ovulation. The critical period for sperm penetration appears to occur at 2-3 hours after ovulation (cf. Pincus,1930).