Determination of Sperm Transfer Time and Retention times of different Regions of Hamster Epididymis

Most of the scientific researches deal with the epididymal sperm maturation but not with the storage of sperms in epididymis. The present study was carried out to determine sperm transfer time, sperm retention time and sperm motility in different regions of hamster epididymis after placing ligations. Ligations were made at the initial segment of the epididymes. The total number of sperm was assessed using the haemocytometer counting method and sperm counts were taken on defined time intervals starting from the 3rd day to the 78th day of postligation. Total sperm count was decreased 50% by 3 days in caput and corpus regions and by 15 days in cauda region. Yet, there were a few numbers of sperm in all regions of hamster epididymis even after 78 days of post-ligation. By 15 days, sperm motility was decreased rapidlyin all epididymal regions and the majority of sperms were immotile by the 24th day of post-ligation. Both sperm counts; immotile and motile sperms in control side was significantly different compared to that of the ligated side of the epididymis (p< 0.05). Sperm emptying time was approximately 18 days in the caput alone, 14 days in the corpus and 46 days in the cauda. It is concluded that in the ligated hamster epididymis sperm transfer takes more than 78 days. The findings of the present study will be vital for future studies on mechanisms of sperm transport and sperm storage in the cauda epididymis in detail.