Leucocytic response to spermatozoa in ligated segments of the rabbit vagina, uterus and oviduct.

The fate of spermatozoa not participating in fertilization has been held to be enzymatic dissolution and phagocytic engulfment (Austin, 1957). Various investigators have observed sperm cells undergoing phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear leucocytes in the vagina and uterus (Yochem, 1929; Pitkjanen, 1960; Howe & Black, 1963). There is some evidence which indicates that ovarian hormones influence the phagocytic removal of spermatozoa from the female genital tract (Bedford, 1965; Marcus, 1966). It was the purpose of this investigation to compare the leucocytic response of the rabbit vagina, uterus and oviduct to spermatozoa under different hormonal conditions. In the present study, rabbit semen, collected by artificial vagina techniques,