THE EFFECT OF AN IUFB ON REPRODUCTION IN MICE

Abstract

Summary. Adult female mice with an intra-uterine foreign body in one horn were mated to normal males. Females were killed on Days 2 to 11, the reproductive tracts were removed, implantations were counted and the uteri and tubes were flushed to recover unimplanted ova. None of the thirty-two females killed after Day 5 had any evidence of implantations in the operated horn, and only 28% had implantations in the control horn. Forty-five per cent of these females had an average of 3·9 ova in the tubes of the operated side at this time, a finding which could not be explained by any gross anatomical alteration. Fifteen animals killed prior to implantation confirmed the fact that sperm transport and fertilization did occur in both operated and control sides, but that tubal transport of ova was altered on the operated side. All of the ova remained in the tube on Day 4 when ova on the control side were recovered from the uterus.