Capacitation of bull spermatozoa and fertilization <i>in vitro</i> of cattle follicular oocytes matured in culture

Abstract

The maturation of ovarian oocytes in vitro and fertilization after transfer to mated animals have been reported for rabbits (Chang, 1955), sheep (Crosby, Ryan &amp; Gordon, 1971), pigs (Motlik &amp; Fulka, 1974; Leman &amp; Dziuk, 1971) and cattle (Sreenan, 1970; Hunter, Lawson &amp; Rowson, 1972). In-vitro maturation of follicular oocytes followed by successful fertilization in vitro has been reported for the mouse (Cross &amp; Brinster, 1970; Iwamatsu &amp; Chang, 1972; Mukherjee, 1972), rat (Niwa &amp; Chang, 1975), hamster (Barros &amp; Munoz, 1974), guinea-pig (Yanagimachi, 1974), rabbit (Brackett, Mills &amp; Jeites, 1972) and man (Edwards, Bavister &amp; Steptoe, 1969). There does not, however, appear to be any report on the fertilization in vitro of follicular oocytes matured in vitro for large domestic animals such as cattle. The present experiment was therefore performed to examine the possibility of capacitation of bovine spermatozoa in reproductive tracts isolated from oestrous cows or in the uteri in situ of oestrous rabbits.