Fertility of rats with artificial oligozoospermia

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Abstract
Three different methods to obtain oligospermic rats were investigated. Surgical reduction of the amount of tubular tissue diminished the number of spermatozoa present in the epididymis, but the animals were not infertile as long as they were able to ejaculate (32/33 rats). Treatment with estradiol benzoate on the 5th day after birth caused only slight reduction of spermatogenesis and most of these animals were fertile. X-irradiation of 20 male rats 1-3 days before birth yielded 8 rats with severely diminished spermatogenesis which were infertile although they did mate and spermatozoa were observed in vaginal smears. Spotty spermatogenesis in the testes of these animals (as in infertile men) evidently results in spermatozoa of diminished fertility.