title: Epididymal storage at abdominal temperature reduces the time required for capacitation of hamster spermatozoa.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cornell University Medical College, New York 10021.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bedford
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yanagimachi
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D006224:Cricetinae; D004822:Epididymis / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D008297:Male; D013075:Sperm Capacitation / Q000502:physiology*; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors