Vie CONG. INTERN. REPROD. ANIM. INSEM. ARTIF., PARIS, 1968, VOL. I

REVERSIBLE INACTIVATION OF COCK SPERMATOZOA BY TEMPERATURE
A.C. NEVO and H. SCHINDLER

Polymer Department, The Weizmann Institute of Science,
Rehovot and the National and University Institute of
Agriculture, Rehovot, Israel

Conditions of storage of spermatozoa in the female genital
organs of many species suggest that the organism possesses means of
inhibiting and of stimulating motility and metabolism of spermatozoa.
Cock spermatozoa are stored in crypts(8) and glands (1) in the in-
fundibulum and utero-vaginal junction regions of the hen oviduct,
from which they can be released to fertilise eggs during 3-5 weeks.
It has often been assumed that inhibition of motility and of meta-
bolic processes are among the factors responsible for prolongation
of the life of spermatozoa during storage. However, no physiological
motility inhibiting substances have been discovered so far, though
many non physiological ones are known. Cock spermatozoa, though, are
reversibly inactivated by temperatures of 40-41°C in certain media,
(3), which suggests possibilities of relatively simple physiological
mechanisms of inhibition and stimulation of sperm motility in the
fowl.

In the present communication, a further investigation of this
reversible temperature inactivation is described and its implications
to fertilization and conditions of sperm storage in the hen oviduct
discussed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cock spermatozoa were washed in unbuffered Ringer and suspended in
the test solution to a final concentration of 4-5x108 cells/ml.,
Motility was observed in micro electrophoresis type observation
chambers’/ under a microscope in a thermostated plastic "box", under
aerobic and anaerobic conditions simultaneously.

Media:
Unbuffered Ringer: NaCl 0.154 M (0.9%) - 80 ml, KC1 0.155 i{f - 14 ml,

CaCl2 05 1BV =~ 5Rml MgSO, 0.155 M - 1 ml, glucose - 10 mg/ml.

Buffered solutions: 10 cc of the buffer solution were added to 100 ml
of unbuffered Ringer. The buffers were - NalCOz 0,155 M; glycine -
0.1 M; M/15 NaZHPO4/KH2PO4; TRIS-maleate. pH=7.1.

Infundibulum secretion: The oviduct was removed 1/2 hr after laying,
the Infundibulum portion cut off, slit open lengthwise and spread on
a glass plate. A test tube was rolled over the tissue and the "juice"
gently scraped off and collected. Particulate matter was removed by

centrifugation,

1637

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