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ISO-ANTIBODY FORMATION AGAINST RABBIT SPERMATOZOA AND ITS EFFECT ON FERTILITY

Several investigators have questioned whether rabbit spermatozoa are isoantigenic (Edwards, 1960; Weil, 1960; Beck, Edwards & Young, 1962) and only recently (by injecting rabbit spermatozoa emulsified in Freund's complete adjuvant) has immunological control of fertility been adequately demonstrated (Menge, 1968). In the preliminary experiment to be reported, the injection of homologous spermatozoa in sodium alginate evoked high levels of iso-antibody against rabbit spermatozoa and suppressed fertility. The infertility resulted from a failure of eggs to become fertilized.

Fourteen rabbits (nine known fertile, five virgin), ranging in age from 9 to 20 months, were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. All animals were injected weekly for 10 weeks before the first insemination and then again once before each succeeding insemination. On each occasion, experimental animals received 0·25 ml of sperm-alginate suspension (5x10⁷ epididymal spermatozoa/ml) into each of the