The Transport of Spermatozoa in the Vagina of the Hen

Abstract

1. The living cock sperm inseminated in the posterior vagina were detected in the anterior vagina after 60 minutes and in the uterus after 90 minutes. In the anterior vaginal insemination, they were detected in the uterus after 40 minutes.2. Both the living heterogeneous sperm and the dead cock sperm inseminated in the posterior vagina were not detected in the vagina and the uterus beyond 30 minutes after the insemination. Methylen blue stained only the mucous epithelium of the injected lower portion of the vagina. Following the anterior vaginal insemination, the living heterogeneous sperm were detected in the uterus or the upper portion in some instances, but the dead sperm were detected nowhere of the oviduct.3. Following the posterior vaginal insemination of the mixture of living and dead cock sperm, and of the mixed living cock and bull sperm, only the living cock sperm were detected in the anterior vagina and the uterus.4. The living cock sperm inseminated in the cloaca were detected in the anterior vagina after 150 minutes. The percentage of fertile eggs from the 2nd day to the 7th day following the cloacal insemination was 73.5 in 23 hens. The first fertile eggs were laid on the 2nd day after the insemination. The dead sperm inseminated in the cloaca were detected nowhere in the vagina and the uterus. Methylen blue injected in the cloaca stained only the mucous epithelium of the cloaca.5. In the cases of the 7 to 12 posterior vaginal or cloacal inseminations at the intervals 2 to 10 minutes, the dead sperm and methylen blue could not reach to the upper part of the vagina.6. Following the intra-uterine inseminations, all of the living and dead cock sperm, the living heterogeneous sperm and methylen blue, progressed rapidly to the upper part of the oviduct. On the other hand, both the living and the dead sperm were ejected rapidly through the utero-vaginal junction. But the downward transport of methylen blue was not found. It was presumed that methylen blue had been absorbed completely in the mucous epithelium of the uterus and the upper portion of oviduct before the utero-vaginal junction was made loose.Antiperistaltic movement on the hen vagina has never been observed during the process of the posterior vaginal insemination under the laparotomy. This obsevation and the above-mentioned experimental results suggest that the motility of sperm itself is the main factor in the mechanism of the upward transport of sperm in the hen's vagina.When living cock and dead sperm, living heterogeneous sperm and methylen blue were inseminated in the posterior end of the vagina, only the living cock sperm were transported up to the anterior end of the vagina and then into the uterus. It is likely that this phenomenon is caused by the Sperm selective function in the hen's vagina. The heterogeneous sperm reduced their motility rapidly in the hen vagina. These lowmotile sperm and the inert substances such as dead sperm and methylen blue were expelled by the peristaltic and ciliary movement to the posterior end in the vagina.Methylen blue could not pass either upward or downward through the utero-vaginal junction. Since the dead sperm inseminated in the uterus passed down through this junction rapidly, it can be considered that the barreir of this junction was not so tight and was loosened to let the contents pass within a short time.