The use of zona free animal ova as a test system for the assessment of the fertilizing capacity of human spermatozoa

Abstract

While studying ovum sperm interactions among various animals it was found that human spermatozoa, which were initially incapable of penetrating zona pellucida free animal (hamster) ova, acquired the ability to do so when incubated several hr in vitro. Experimental evidence suggests that this ability is associated with the completion of sperm capacitation and the acrosome reaction. Thus it appears that zona free animal ova can be substituted for human ova in the preliminary assessment of the fertilizing capacity of human spermatozoa when human ova are not readily available.