Electroejaculation in the Male Rat / 대한비뇨기과학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We examined the possibility of electroejaculation for the evaluation of fertility in the male rat. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley male rats that underwent seminal vesiculectomy were used for semen collection by electroejaculation. With a transrectal probe(60Hz, 3V, 0.5A), sign wave electric stimulation was applied to an anesthetized rat. Ejaculated semen was collected by a pipette and the volume and sperm density of the ejaculate were analyzed. Two weeks later, a second electroejaculation was performed under the same conditions with the same rats. RESULTS: At the first attempt, all 10 rats ejaculated following electric stimulation. The mean semen volume was 8.9 microliter (range, 3.0-28.5 microliter) and the mean sperm density was 6,428/ml(range, 320-20,997/ml). At the second attempt, only 7 of 10 rats(70%) ejaculated. The mean semen volume was 5.6 microliter(range, 3.3-8.6 microliter) and the mean sperm density was 2,801/ml (range, 227-12,555/ml). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that electroejaculation has the possibility of being a useful method for evaluation of fertility in the male rat.