Sperm

SPERM (Greek: sperma - seed), a synonym for ejaculate, the fluid expelled during sexual intercourse, is a turbid, viscous, fluid mass with a weakly alkaline reaction and a viscous consistency due to the admixture of secretions from the seminal vesicles; shortly after expulsion, sperm turns into a true fluid under the influence of the secretion of the prostate gland. The specific gravity of human sperm is 1.021–1.040; that of horse sperm is 1.010–1.015. There is no parallelism between specific gravity and the number of spermatozoa. The ejaculate has a peculiar, unpleasant odor; dried sperm has the smell of burnt horn. Its whitish color—the color of cooked starch—is due to spermatozoa suspended in the seminal fluid and to the lecithin granules of the prostatic secretion. Its odor is due not to spermine (see), but probably to certain protein substances. The base obtained by Schreiner and named spermine was not found in subsequent studies. Sperm is a mixture of the secretions of the testes and their appendages, as well as the glandular formations of the genital tract (seminal vesicles, ductal glands and their ampullae, prostate, Cowper's glands, and Littré's glands). Physiologically, the main component of sperm is the spermatozoa (see). Prostatic secretion liquefies and increases the volume of sperm and serves as a nutrient medium for spermatozoa outside the male organism. The secretion of the other glands apparently has no special significance for sperm. Experiments by I. I. Ivanov on artificial fertilization showed that, in general, the secretion of accessory sexual glands is not necessarily necessary for fertilization. Chemical composition of sperm: 1) nucleins, mainly in the form of nucleic acid bound to a base, namely protamine; 2) Schreiner's base—spermine, which crystallizes in the form of Bether crystals (see) upon drying of sperm in the form of a phosphoric acid salt due to the combination of spermine contained in the prostatic secretion with the other constituent particles of sperm; 3) cholesterol, lecithins, fats; 4) protein and hemialbumoses. The presence of the latter during the examination of urine can lead to diagnostic errors (albuminuria and false hemialbumosuria). The production of sperm begins during the period of sexual maturation, reaches its highest development between the ages of 20 and 30, and begins to decrease after the age of 40. The amount of sperm produced by the organism is unknown, since one essential moment, namely the amount of sperm absorbed from the seminal vesicles, is always unknown. The amount of sperm expelled during ejaculation, i.e., the amount of ejaculate, varies within wide limits both among different individuals and in the same individual at different times; on average it equals 2.0–6.0 g. It depends on a whole series of circumstances: 1) during sexual intercourse more sperm is expelled than during masturbatory acts and during nocturnal emissions; 2) during repeated sexual acts performed one after another within a short period, the amount of sperm and spermatozoa decreases, but after 1–2 days returns to normal, and the number of spermatozoa even increases compared to the previous amount; 3) the quantity and quality of sperm are in direct dependence on the dietary regimen and on physical work; 4) in obese subjects, less sperm is produced, according to Lowenfeld, than in thin, muscular subjects; 5) the quantity and quality of sperm are in a certain dependence on the emotional state. Cases where a large amount of sperm (20–35 g) is always expelled during ejaculation are called polyspermia; this state cannot be considered pathological; Krafft-Ebing considered it a secretory neurosis. On the contrary, the expulsion of a very small amount of sperm (oligospermy, hypospermy) represents a pathological phenomenon. The increase and decrease in the amount of sperm occurs mainly at the expense of the secretion of the prostate gland and is connected with diseases of it and age-related changes. In the latter case, it may come to a complete absence of ejaculate during sexual intercourse (Furbringer's involutionary aspermia). Sperm can take a red, red-brown, brown-yellow, and rusty hue from the admixture of blood (see Hematospermia), yellow from the admixture of pus (pyospermia), yellow-brown in jaundice, red, like wine, or violet, blue (cyanospermia) from the presence in sperm of blue formations containing indigo or from chromogenic cocci. If there is no secretion of the testes in the ejaculate, then sperm is abnormally liquid (hydrospermia), and especially sharply the secretion of the seminal vesicles and the secretion of the prostate gland are distinguished; on the contrary, in an ejaculate containing spermatozoa, it is possible to distinguish separately the secretion of the testes and the prostate, but the secretion of the seminal vesicles cannot be recognized separately. Macroscopically, the secretion of the testes consists of large glassy, viscous, fluid clots penetrated by thin white stripes; the secretion of the seminal vesicles consists of translucent, viscous, coiled threads about 2 mm in thickness; in a fresh ejaculate this secretion has the appearance of sago grains. Prostatic secretion is a watery milky liquid. The secretion of Cowper's glands and urethral glands has the appearance of light droplets stretching into threads; in a whole ejaculate it cannot be detected. Microscopic examination of fresh normal sperm is performed without staining. Under the microscope numerous, very mobile spermatozoa are found, round testicular cells _u strongly refracting light, cylindrical epithelial cells of the seminal vesicles and prostate, polygonal and round flat epithelial cells from the urethra, yellow and brown pigment granules, especially in elderly subjects; lecithin granules. In cooled sperm, after 24–36 hours, Bether crystals are found in the form of prisms, stars, etc., chemically identical with the crystals of Charcot-Leyden (see Bronchial Asthma), but differing from them in their convex form. Parenteral introduction into the organism of animals and humans of sperm (or washed spermatozoa) causes the formation of antibodies in the blood. Blood serum acquires agglutinating, toxic (Metchnikov, Landsteiner) and lytic (London) properties with respect to spermatozoa. Spermotoxins and spermolysins possess a weakly expressed species and genus specificity, which, according to Tushnov, is connected with the presence in spermatozoa of contaminating proteins. Well-washed spermatozoa give heterospecific (tissue-specific) serum. Spermotoxins, and later spermagglutinins, were used for the purpose of preventing pregnancy (see Contraceptives). Tushnov proposed a killed acetone vaccine from spermatozoa (the method of preparation was not published) for creating sperm immunity in women. The number of experiments is still too limited for any conclusions. The detection of sperm in forensic medical cases is based mainly on the detection of spermatozoa. The existing tests or reactions for sperm (Barbieri reaction, Dominici, Florance) are not specific and have only an orientative value in the sense of selecting an object (for example, from a series of spots) for more detailed examination.