THE FERTILITY OF MALE RATS AFTER MODERATE AND AFTER SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA

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Abstract
SUMMARY 1. Male rats which had been exposed to a combination of hypoxia, hypercapnia and cold, and in which body temperature had fallen to between + 15° and + 20° C, showed reduced sex drive and fertility during the subsequent 1–2 weeks. 2. Male rats further cooled until respiration and circulation had been arrested for 1 hr, and until the body temperature was between 0° and + 1·5° C, showed reduced sex drive and fertility for 8 weeks after reanimation. 3. In rats exposed to severe hypothermia, developing spermatozoa and spermatids were damaged, but not the spermatogonia and spermatocytes in the majority of seminiferous tubules. Recovery was well advanced by the 8th week. 4. During the first week after cooling a high proportion of the epididymal spermatozoa became decapitated. Their acrosomes were distorted and their mid-pieces and tail sheaths disrupted.

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