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  • Title: Epididymal storage at abdominal temperature reduces the time required for capacitation of hamster spermatozoa.
    Author: Bedford JM, Yanagimachi R.
    Journal: J Reprod Fertil; 1991 Mar; 91(2):403-10. PubMed ID: 2013869.
    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.
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