The sperm-cervical mucus contact test: a preliminary report

Infertility in men and women with spermagglutinins is the result of disturbed penetration and migration of spermatozoa in the cervical mucus. In ejaculates with partial spermagglutination caused by autoimmunization, the progressive propulsion of the sperm was changed into stationary, shaking movement the moment the sperm came into contact with cervical mucus. The same alteration in spermatozoal motility pattern also occurred when spermatozoa from a normal, fertile ejaculate came into contact with cervical mucus of a woman whose serum contained sperm antibodies. This shaking phenomenon was visualized in a simple test, the sperm-cervical mucus contact test. We demonstrated that sensitized spermatozoa exhibit the shaking phenomenon after contact with the glycoprotein fraction of the cervical mucus and not after contact with the aqueous fraction. Therefore, the hypothesis is introduced that the shaking phenomenon is due to an interaction between sensitized spermatozoa and the glycoprotein micelles in cervical mucus.

The fractional post-coital test performed in a square capillary tube

A new method of examination of post-coital cervical mucus was developed, with special attention to the moving spermatozoa. The test is performed in a square capillary tube (edge 0,8 mm). The migration rate, -- velocity and -- direction are measured by means of an ocular micrometer, which is seen projected over the capillary tube.

Dinitrochlorobenzene sensitisation test in women on hormonal contraceptives

Cell-mediated immunity was measured in women on hormonal contraceptives using the 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (D.N.C.B.) sensitisation test. Three groups of women were studied: forty-eight women were taking oral contraceptives of combined oestrogen/progestogen (thirty-seven of them had used oral contraceptives for a year or longer); twelve women were using a sequential pill (ethinyloestradiol and megestrolacetate); and sixteen women had received intramuscular injections of medroxyprogesterone acetate. The results were compared with those of a control group of twenty-nine age-matched women not taking contraceptive steroids. In women on the combined contraceptive pill and those who had received intramuscular progesterone, mean D.N.C.B. reactivity was significantly increased. The results were even more striking in women who had used combined contraceptive pills for more than one year. These results do not accord with the previously reported decrease in cell-mediated immunity in women on hormonal contraceptives.

The histochemical pattern of the human adult testes

The histochemical pattern of the human testes has been investigated. Steroid-producing Leydig cells are characterized by the enzymes 3β ol-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and secondary alcohol dehydrogenase. The presence of the last mentioned enzyme precedes that of the 3β ol-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Fibroblast-like interstitial cells showed only enzyme activity of the secondary alcohol dehydrogenase. The best results for indicating the presence of the enzyme 3β ol-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase were obtained by the method of Allen (1960) with the substrate androst-4-ene-3β,17β-diol. No activity of 3β ol-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and the secondary alcohol dehydrogenase was found in the Sertoli cells.