Delayed Fertilization and Preimplantation Loss in Senescent Golden Hamsters

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ova were collected from young virgin (120 animals, 3-5 months of age) and senescent multiparous (172 animals, 14-17 months of age) female golden hamsters from 1 h through 3½ days postovulation. The majority of ova recovered from aged hamsters mated with young males exhibited a 2 to 5 h delay in fertilization. This difference was not attributed to delayed ovulation in the older female, but rather to prolonged penetration of the zona pellucida and vitellus by the spermatozoon, extending the time of fertilization. Approximately 40 percent of the ova ovulated by senescent females were non-viable (unfertile, abnormal, and degenerating) at the time of implantation. Many of the non-viable ova could have resulted directly from the aging of the ovum before fertilization, while others appear to be inherently defective at the time of ovulation.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: