Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T16:55:36.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the composition of boar semen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

T. Glover
Affiliation:
A.R.C., Unit of Animal Reproduction, and Molteno Institute, University of Cambridge
T. Mann
Affiliation:
A.R.C., Unit of Animal Reproduction, and Molteno Institute, University of Cambridge

Extract

1. Twenty ejaculates were collected from the same boar at weekly intervals; the composition of semen was studied by microscopic and chemical methods. The total volume of ejaculates varied from 240 to 500 ml., and sperm concentration from 50,000 to 177,000 cells/μl. Chemical analysis revealed 2·4–12·6 mg./100ml. fructose, 5·9–23·1 mg./100 ml. ergothioneine, and 32–156 mg./100 ml. citric acid.

2. The sequence with which the different parts of boar semen follow one another at ejaculation was studied by the method of fractionate collection. The earliest to be emitted was the ‘pre-sperm fraction’ from which sperm and seminal vesicle secretion were absent. The next was the ‘sperm-rich fraction’ which showed not only a high sperm content but contained also substantial quantities of substances derived from the seminal vesicles, i.e. fructose, ergothioneine and citric acid. The ‘post-sperm fraction’ consisted mainly of accessory gland secretions.

3. The analysis of semen fractions collected at very brief intervals has shown that whereas the secretion of the seminal vesicles accompanies the spermatozoa at ejaculation, it attains its maximum immediately after the bulk of the sperm has been ejaculated.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1954

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Huggins, C. & Johnson, A. A. (1933). Amer. J. Physiol. 103, 574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humphrey, G. F. & Mann, T. (1949). Biochem. J. 44, 97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, G. (1951). Biochem. J. 48, 265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, S., Niwa, T. & Kudo, A. (1948). Res. Bull. Zootech. Exp. Sta. Chiba. 55, 1.Google Scholar
Leone, E. & Mann, T. (1951). Nature, Lond., 168, 205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundquist, F. (1949). Acta physiol. scored. 19, suppl. p. 66.Google Scholar
Lutwak-Mann, C. & Rowson, L. E. A. (1953). J. Agric. Sci. 43, 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenzie, F. F. (1931). J. Amer. Vet. Med. Ass. 78, 244.Google Scholar
McKenzie, F. F., Miller, J. C. & Bauguess, L. C. (1938). Mo. Agric. Exp. Sta. Res. Bull. no. 279.Google Scholar
Mann, T. (1946). Biochem. J. 40, 481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, T. (1948 a). J. Agric. Sci. 38, 323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, T. (1948 b). Lancet, no. 254, 446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, T. (1951). Nature, Lond., 168, 1043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, T. (1953). Ciba Foundation Symposium on the Mammalian Germ Cells, p. 1.Google Scholar
Mann, T. & Leone, E. (1953). Biochem. J. 53, 140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nesmejanova, T. N. (1936). Usp. zootech. Nauk, 2, 253; cf. Anim. Breed. Abstr. 5, 43.Google Scholar
Scherstén, B. (1936). Skand. Arch. Physiol. 74, suppl. p. 7.Google Scholar
Speck, J. F., Moulder, J. W. & Evans, E. A. Jr. (1946). J. Biol. Chem. 104, 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, C. (1949). J. Endocrinol. 6, 205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, A. (1927). Proc. Roy. Soc. B, 101, 303.Google Scholar