A Staining Technique for the Study of Temperature-Shock in Semen

Abstract

Lasley, Easley and McKenzie¹ have shown that the increased staining propensity of dead cells may be used to obtain a quantitative estimate of the proportions of live and dead spermatozoa in freshly ejaculated ram semen, and have described a technique of staining with Opal Blue and Eosin which employs this principle. They have also emphasized that the imposition of temperature-shock on test ejaculates by sudden cooling is accompanied by an increase in the proportion of stained spermatozoa. In their studies, shock effects due to differences of temperature between semen and stain at the time of mixing were rigidly excluded, and no subsequent attempt has apparently been made to determine the critical level at which such temperature effects may be encountered, or to express in quantitative terms the degree of shock encountered at different temperature-levels.