Oviductal ovum surrogate movement: Interrelation with muscular activity

Abstract

Data indicate that muscular activity of the ampullary-isthmic junction and distal isthmus oviduct contributes directly to movement of spheres within the lumen. Lack of obvious directionality in the propagation of electrical activity in the rabbit (Talo and Hodgson, unpublished data) and human (Daniel, 1976) oviducts, together with the present data showing rapid motion in the ovarian and uterine directions, provides support for the hypothesis that ovum transport is a one-dimensional random walk with reflecting and absorbing 'barriers' at the ovarian and uterine ends of the oviduct respectively (Portnow et al., in press). Thus, although cilia may effect passage of the cumulus mass down the ampulla and, by inducing fluid flow, could exert bias on muscularly-induced movement of denuded ova, the authors believe that muscular activity provides the primary propulsive forces in instantaneous movement of spheres.